TBI
by ILoveFanFic76
Summary: Sequel to The Jock Gets the Girl. Mitchie suffers a major injury following a soccer accident and Alex supports her throughout the journey of coping with the many difficulties to come.
1. Prologue

**A/N: First off, I am sorry for the title. Like, I've said, I'm horrible at naming things.**

**I'm hoping my writing does this idea at least a little bit of justice. I was really into this as soon as the idea popped into my head, and I was hoping for one of those beautiful, well-written stories that I've read before. I know it won't be up to my own standards because I've learned that I write the same way that I talk, but I hope that you won't be disappointed.**

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><p><em><strong>TBI – Traumatic Brain Injury<strong>_

"_An insult to the brain from an external mechanical force, possibly leading to permanent or temporary impairment of cognitive, physical, and psychosocial functions_"

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><p><strong>So, that's the prologue. It's not a lot, but it's the main idea of this story. I'm still thinking up details, so I might take a wee bit longer to update, but I will not abandon this. I've been waiting too long to write it, so don't worry about that. The first chapter has already been in my head for a while. I just need to type it up.<strong>

**Also, this story is about coping with a TBI with the support of your significant other. Do you readers think it should be rated T or M? It's T for now, but judging just by the idea, do you think I should change it?**


	2. The Accident

**A/N: Okay, here's the first chapter of TBI. I don't want to ruin things by rambling, so I'll just hop to it.**

**Also, I tried looking up soccer rules to figure out a particular rule, but I couldn't find an answer, so let's just pretend that in the Tribeca School District, players can get as close to the goal as they want when scoring.**

**For those who might get confused, I'll explain some things beforehand:**

**The GCS stands for Glasgow Coma Scale. It's a series of 3 small examinations of a person's verbal responses, visual responses, and motor responses after head trauma. Each of the three categories gets rated from 1-5, depending on the patient's reactions (1 being no response, 5 being pretty responsive). The minimum score is a 3 (Coma) and the maximum is 15 (Minor damage).**

**Also, when paramedics check a person's ABC's, they're checking that their airways are clear (a), that they're breathing (b), and that there is a pulse (c).**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Wizards of Waverly Place or Camp Rock.**

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><p>Senior year- The year that every high school athlete dreams of. This is their time to shine; to show everyone what they've been training for over the past 3 years.<p>

And no one deserved this more than Mitchie. Ever since she graduated middle school and chose Tribeca Prep as her high school, she had gone to every practice, countless summer conditioning sessions, and numerous scrimmages. Last year, she even stayed at school for an extra hour after practice on at least ten different occasions to help the Sophomore goalie sharpen her skills.

It was now the fourth game of the season and the Tribeca Prep Turkeys could not be in a better place. The team had won the Big Kick-Off, tied the second game, and won the third. They almost lost the second game, but in the final 2 minutes, Mitchie had made an amazing save.

Alex felt so proud watching Mitchie on the field. The net was where Mitchie was always in her zone and seeing her play was such a treat. Alex was thankful that she stayed with cheerleading because she never had to miss a game. She was there to congratulate Mitchie after all of her wins and comfort her after a loss, which was rare for the Turkeys, but it still happened. Alex called Mitchie her Supergirl because Mitchie was beautiful, popular, a star soccer player, got amazing grades, and still found time to give Alex her undivided attention. The two girls could not be happier with each other.

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><p>About 7 minutes after half-time, everyone on the pep squad was finally able to rest and enjoy the remainder of the game until they did their traditional "Good Game" cheer for the other team.<p>

The game continued as the cheerleaders were packing up their belongings so they could get out of the school as soon as the final cheer ended and they'd beat the parking lot traffic.

One of the other school's players was dribbling the ball toward the goal, closely followed by a pack of Turkey girls and various other opponents. As one of the players kicked the ball a foot away from the pole on Mitchie's right side, she dove to retrieve it. A rather muscular girl was sprinting after the black and white sphere and Mitchie had to time to completely get a hold of it in her arms. Her best bet was to just push the ball as far as she could. That way, she'd have time to stand in case of an attempted shot.

As the opposing girl brought her foot back to make her shot, Mitchie flung herself to down to the right. Just before she hit the ground, her hand flew forward and thrust the ball away.

It all happened in the blink of an eye.

Mitchie's head had replaced the ball in the space it previously occupied. The large striker was unable to stop her motion in time.

A thump was heard as the gigantic foot made contact with Mitchie's face. The force of the kick propelled the goalie's head backwards and into the vertical metal bar of the goalpost. She was knocked out on impact. Mitchie's body closely followed and she landed on her back with her right leg straight out and her left bent at the knee.

***PINNNNNG***

"**Oooohhhh..."**

Alex's head shot up when she heard the entire audience emit a simultaneous groan. She whipped her head around to look at Mitchie just as the goalkeeper's limp body hit the ground.

The crowd was murmuring and Alex began to worry. She had seen Mitchie take nasty falls during a game, but something was off.

_Come on, Mitch...Get up_, Alex thought to herself.

Everyone on the field and in the stands was completely silent. The referee that stood by the goal line called a time out after he saw Mitchie go down. Both coaches and the school nurse rushed onto the field toward the fallen goalie.

After what felt like the longest 30 seconds of Alex's life, the cheerleader found herself running. She had to get to Mitchie. Alex didn't even register that she was moving until her breathing became heavy. As a couple Turkey girls who were checking Mitchie out saw Alex coming at them, they moved out of the way to let her in.

Alex dropped to her knees down by Mitchie's legs and immediately put a hand on hers. Mitchie's right eye was already starting to turn black and swell, and there was an inch-long gash above her eyebrow that was bleeding.

"Mitchie? Mitchie!" The coach was calling to the body in front of him.

The nurse leaned forward and brought her ear to Mitchie's face.

"She's breathing. That's not a bad sign. We'll give it another half a minute or so and if she doesn't wake up, I'll call the paramedics."

If Alex thought that first 30 seconds felt like forever, this 30 seconds felt like forever times two. She mentally begged Mitchie to do anything- open her eyes, make a noise, move a finger- _something_ that would tell Alex she was okay.

Nothing.

The nurse pulled out her cell phone and dialed.

"Hello? I'm at Tribeca Prep High School. There was an accident during a soccer game. A player was kicked in the head and then her head hit the metal goal post...She's been unconscious for a little over a minute now...She's not responding to anything at the moment...All right... Thank you. Bye." She quickly hung up and returned her attention to Mitchie, "They're sending over an ambulance now. Somebody go open the gate all the way so the van can get onto the field."

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><p>Approximately five minutes. The entire time that Mitchie just laid there on the ground, not moving, was the scariest five minutes of Alex's young life. She had tears running down her cheeks and she would've collapsed into a sobbing heap if she hadn't been held upright by Harper, who ran to the commotion sometime between the 3rd and 4th minute.<p>

A faint siren was heard coming around the corner. Mitchie's left eye slowly started opening. She was looking straight up with a completely vacant stare. Alex felt a small wave of relief when she caught a glimpse of the dark brown iris.

Alex was just about to say something when she and everyone except the school nurse were shooed away by two men in blue EMT uniforms, left to watch from 10 feet away.

The first Paramedic spoke.

"What's the patient's name?"

"Mitchie Torres. She's 17, and she's not listed in the system as having any allergies or anything. I checked her ABC's and she _is _breathing. She's been out for about five minutes or so. She isn't responding to anything at all._"_ The nurse answered.

He focused on the goalie.

"Hey, Mitchie? Mitchie, can you hear me?"

There was no response. She just kept staring up as he scribbled something on a notepad.

The second medic dug into his bag and pulled out three small, narrow bandages and put them on the cut above Mitchie's eyebrow.

EMT 1 pinched Mitchie's arm to try and arouse her.

Still nothing. He recorded the result in the notepad and when he put it down, Mitchie's eye started to close again.

"Hey, Mitchie. I need you to stay awake. Can you do that for me?" He asked.

Mitchie's eye gently reopened but she was still in a daze.

"What's her GCS?"

"E3-V1-M1."

"Damn. Okay, let's get the brace on and backboard her."

Alex looked on as the paramedics slipped a neck brace on her girlfriend, lifted her onto a stretcher, and hauled her to the awaiting ambulance. She could not turn away from the scene even as the vehicle exited the field. Alex stood frozen in her spot, everyone staring at her. Harper grabbed her friend's hand and pulled her off the field.

"C'mon. I'm driving you to the hospital." She told Alex. Alex, on the other hand, couldn't even form a coherent thought as she walked on autopilot to Harper's car.

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><p>Alex stared out the front window as the car came to a stop outside of the hospital.<p>

Harper turned to face her.

"Alex-"

"I'm scared, Harper."

Harper sighed and reached out to pull Alex into a tight hug.

"I know. I am too."

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><p><strong>I apologize if my descriptions were off or didn't make any sense. I had it all play out in my head, but I sometimes have trouble putting it into words. Thanks for reading and let me know if you have there are any questions.<strong>


	3. Connie Finds Out

**A/N: Thank you so much for your amazing reviews! You all are amazing. Really.**

**THIS CHAPTER IS ALL FILLER. It's also pretty much all about Mitchie's mom, Connie. You don't need to read it, but if you _do_ read it, thank you. It means a lot.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Wizards of Waverly Place or Camp Rock.**

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><p><strong>In the ambulance...<strong>

While one paramedic raced the ambulance to the hospital, the other was in the back, tending to Mitchie.

"Mitchie, my name is Rick. I'm going to perform some quick exams. First, I need you to do your best to follow my finger with your eye."

Rick drew a large 'H' in the air with his index finger, hoping Mitchie would be able to focus in on it. Unfortunately, she wasn't. Rick sighed and moved on to check the rest of Mitchie's vital signs.

Minutes later, the ambulance pulled up to the hospital and Mitchie was rushed in on they gurney.

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><p>Connie Torres was sitting in her office, getting ready to pack up her things and finally go home for the night. She hadn't been able to make it to as many of Mitchie's soccer games as she'd like because of work, but she was always proud of her daughter, nonetheless.<p>

Just as she was about to lock her door, Connie' heard her desk phone start to ring.

"Ugh, not now." She said, walking back into her office. She planned on checking who was calling and then letting it go to voice mail unless it was her boss or some other important person.

Connie's eyebrows furrowed in confusion when the caller I.D. read '_Tribeca Med. Ctr._'

She slowly picked up the phone and brought it to her ear.

"Hello?" She asked hesitantly.

"Yes, am I speaking with Connie Torres?" A woman spoke into the phone.

"You are. How can I help you?"

"I'm sorry to inform you that your daughter, Mitchie, has been brought into our emergency room. She's being tended to for head trauma following a sports accident." The voice on the other side sounded so insincere. As if she were telling Connie something trivial like informing her that she left the lights on in her car.

Connie's heart dropped and a lump formed in her throat. She felt like she had just swallowed an entire walnut and a single tear rolled down her left cheek.

"...Miss Torres?"

"Yeah, sorry. Hi. I'll be right over." She said as she hung up the phone, not even giving the other woman a chance to say 'bye'.

Rushing out the door, Connie composed herself enough to be able to drive the moderate distance to the hospital.

She had just gotten off the phone with her husband, Steve, and agreed to meet him at the hospital.

About halfway there, in the midst of trying to figure out exactly what the vague details the woman from the hospital gave her, Connie thought of Alex- about how Alex was at the game and probably saw everything, how scared Alex must have been (probably as scared as Connie was).

Connie turned the blue-tooth car phone on and gave it the voice command to call Alex. With the Torres' and the Russos becoming so close thanks to their daughters, everyone had everyone else's phone numbers.

"C-Connie?" Alex answered, crying.

"Alex, honey? Where are you?"

"I'm at the hospital. H-Harper and I got here after Mitchie but they won't say anything until a parent arrives." She rushed out before another sob could escape.

"I'm on my way right now and Steve just left work. Is Harper still with you? Could you put her on the phone?"

Alex passed Harper the phone and leaned forward in her chair with her face buried in her hands.

"Hi, Connie." Harper said calmly. She was just as worried about Mitchie as Alex, but knew that she had to stay strong for her best friend.

"Hey, Harper- Has Alex contacted her mom yet?"

"Not yet. She's really shaken up. I'm surprised she was even able to answer her phone."

"Harper, did you see what happened at the game? The woman on the phone just said that there was some sort of accident." Connie asked. She really wanted to know, but a small part of her was scared to death of all the possibilities that ran through her mind.

"I didn't see what happened. Neither did Alex but the nurse and the referee of the game said that she was kicked in the face and then the back of her head smashed into the goal post. She didn't wake up for like, 5 minutes and when she did, she was just kinda staring off into space. I'm not really sure what that means, though." Harper explained, much to Connie's dismay.

"Oh, god. Okay, I'm going to call Alex's mom and I'll meet you guys inside in 5 minutes."

"Bye, Connie." Harper returned Alex's phone and rested her head on her friend's shoulder.

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><p>Connie had just parked her car and dialed Theresa Russo's phone number.<p>

"Hey, Connie! How are ya'?" She asked cheerfully, not yet knowing about the current situation.

"Not well. There was an accident during the game."

Theresa instantly became serious.

"What happened? Are the girls all right?" She asked worriedly.

"Don't worry, Alex is fine. Physically, at least."

"What about Mitchie?"

The lump formed once again in Connie's throat. Only this time, she couldn't hold it back. Connie let out a heartbreaking sob. Her entire body started to shake and she put her hand on her chest in some kind of attempt to slow her increased heart rate.

"...Mitchie's in the emergency room. They're treating her for head trauma. She was unconscious for five minutes." Never in her life, had Connie experienced so much trouble saying one group of phrases.

Theresa gave Connie a sympathetic sigh.

"Oh, honey...I'm so sorry...Is there anything I can do? Do you need anything?"

"I just wanted to let you know that Alex and Harper are at the hospital. I'm about to go inside and meet them."

"I'll be there too. Give me a 20 minutes."

"Thank you so much Theresa. I'll see you soon." Connie sniffled, slowly pulling herself together. She got out of her car and timidly made her way up to the doors of the hospital.

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><p><strong>Again, I'm sorry that this is all filler. Also for the length (or lack thereof). I just wanted to get something up again. Thank you for reading!<strong>


	4. XRays and CT Scans

**A/N: Thank you for reading my filler chapter. Thinking this story out, I'm concluding that it's going to move slowly and there might be a lot of filler, but I assure you that it will progress so stay with me :)**

**Depending on what you consider filler this could be either be important to the story or not. It's your call. This chapter is Mitchie's diagnosis so personally, I think it's good to know but it's up to you.**

**I apologize _perfusely_ for the lack of excitement in this chapter. Even I almost dozed off writing part of it earlier today, so I absolutely do not blame you for hating this update :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Wizards of Waverly Place or Camp Rock.**

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><p>Connie walked through the Emergency Room doors and her eyes immediately fell on the two broken girls in the waiting area.<p>

"Girls!" Connie called to them. Alex and Harper instantly looked up. Harper had tears ready to fall while Alex was freely crying, her eyes were red and puffy and her makeup smeared all over the place.

Alex shot up and ran into Connie's arms. Connie hugged the cheerleader tightly. The two cried quietly together and Connie kissed Alex's head.

"Harper, come here." Connie offered an open arm. Grateful for the gesture, Harper joined in the hug.

Connie was thankful to have Harper there. Both to support Alex but also to support Mitchie. Mitchie was an only child and Connie could not ask for a better "sister" than Harper.

Everyone was sniffling and wiping their tears as the hug ended.

"I'm gonna go to the desk and see if they have any information." Connie said, walking the girls back to the seats.

Connie approached the receptionist.

"Hi, my name is Connie Torres. My daughter, Mitchie was brought in a little while ago."

The woman looked through a mess of folders at her work station before pulling one out and reading its contents.

"Oh yes. Mitchie Torres, 17, brought in with a head injury," She clicked though her computer, "Mitchie is still being tested in one of the exam rooms. Why don't you have a seat until the doctor comes? It could be a while."

"Really? Okay, thank you." Connie started to walk back to her seat when she heard her name called.

"Connie?" Theresa emerged from the automatic doors. The two mothers embraced each other.

"Thank you so much for coming."

"Don't even think that I wouldn't. Of course I'd be here." Theresa comforted her friend.

Both mothers sat down. Theresa hugged Alex and Connie sat with an arm around Harper.

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><p>Two painful hours later, all 4 parents were sitting in the waiting room when a bald man in a white coat came out with a clipboard.<p>

"Is the family of Mitchie Torres here?"

Steve and Connie stood up immediately.

"That's us. Is she all right?" Steve asked eagerly.

The doctor eyed the four other people in the waiting room.

"It would be best if we could talk in private. I'll lead you to my office."

The man turned around and led Connie and Steve to his office at the end of a long hallway.

"Please, sit down." He gestured to two chairs in front of his desk, "I am doctor Larry Schwartz and I was assigned to Mitchie when she came in."

"Nice to meet you," Connie started, "What's happening with her?"

"Well, I'm going to be honest with you...It doesn't look great. You see, Mitchie suffered some major damage on the inside of her skull, even though there were minimal affects to the outside."

"We had radiology perform multiple scans to make sure that we were able to assess exactly what was going on inside of her head." Dr. Schwartz stood up with his clipboard and over to the light board on the other side of the room. Mitchie's parents stood up and followed.

After pinning some films up on the board, the doctor began showing them different points on each picture.

"These are Mitchie's x-rays and scans. The first test we performed was an x-ray on the spine. With every head injury due to trauma, we have to assume that there is also spinal damage. The back of Mitchie's neck had hit the goal post, but fortunately, it was not as bad as it could have been. Mitchie has some bruising over the muscles on two of the vertebrae in her neck. It's not major damage but the area will be very sore. That isn't where the problems start, though"

Schwartz moved onto the next picture.

"Now, these are a set of CT scans. If you look here, where there are these large dark shapes in the back-left of the brain- that's called a contusion. In simpler terms, it's a moderate-to-severe bruising of the brain." He pointed out some other areas of the scan, "_These_ bright white lines were the real worry here. These thin streaks are stemming from right over here. They're called a hematomas and they were bleeding at an almost-alarming rate. We had to insert catheter through a small hole in her skull. It was as noninvasive as we could get. There is still some blood inside, but we got enough out that the rest should be able to heal itself. Nonetheless, we will keep a close watch on that area. Unfortunately, the source of the hematoma was pretty banged up, as you can see by the discoloring in that area. Now, we won't see the exact effects until we run more tests on Mitchie in a few days. In the meantime, she's resting."

Steve pointed at the last picture that seemed to be an image of the side of Mitchie's face, but it was slightly misshapen.

"What's this one?"

"That one is an x-ray of Mitchie's eye."

"It's all buldgey." Connie pointed out.

"The force of the kick to Mitchie's head caused that area of her face to swell and bruise. We've attached a bandage for the cut above her eye and a cold compress on everything else for 20 minutes every 6 hours. There was quite a bit of damage to the tissue behind the eye and it's too soon to tell, but Mitchie _could_ experience some minor or moderate problems with her vision. We won't know until the swelling goes down, but I'm just warning you beforehand."

Connie let out a tired, sad sigh and buried her face in the crook of Steve's neck. In turn, Steve sweetly comforted his wife.

"Can we see her?" Steve asked.

"You can, but I have to tell you- it's not an easy thing, especially as a parent. Also, we have her on some IV's and she's probably going to be sleeping." Dr. Schwartz informed the couple.

"Please. We need to see her." Connie begged.

Dr. Schwartz had Steve and Connie follow him to the room that Mitchie was in.

Connie's hand instantly cupped her mouth in an attempt to hide a small gasp when she walked in. Mitchie was definitely sleeping. Her chest gently rose and fell with each breath and Steve walked over to grab his daughter's hand. Connie walked over on the other side of the bed. Mitchie's entire right eye was covered with a good amount of gauze but the bruising was still very visible around the edges.

"Hey, Mitchie," Connie spoke with tears in her eyes once again, "It's Mom and Dad. I don't know if you can hear us but we need you to get better, okay? I know that this is gonna be tough but when you're all better, how about we take a vacation somewhere? I'll even invite Alex, huh? Does that sound like a good idea?" She sniffled when the silence set in once again.

"I love you, honey." Steve added. He was never they type of man to wear his heart on his sleeve, but he _did_ have feelings. He kissed his daughter's forehead, barely touching it in fear of possibly doing any more damage and took his wife's hand as they walked out of the room.

Once they rejoined Dr. Schwartz in the hallway, Connie remembered the rest of the group that was in the waiting room.

"We have very close friends here this evening- Mitchie's best friend, girlfriend, and her girlfriend's parents. Will they be able to see her also?" She asked.

"Unfortunately, it's much too soon to tell exactly what condition Mitchie is in. We're still trying to get her stable, which could take a few days, but once she is in a steadier condition and in an actual room, we'll call you and you can bring other visitors. For now, I suggest that you all go home and get some rest. You two can come back tomorrow and see her." The doctor suggested.

"All right. Thank you so much." Steve said, shaking the other man's hand.

Connie and Steve filled the Russos and Harper in on what was happening with Mitchie and everyone agreed that they need to be home tonight and try to get a good night's sleep, as impossible as it sounds. Harper was going to stay with Alex so that she would not be alone, at least for the first couple nights.

The families said they're so-longs and parted ways, all with solemn expressions on their faces.

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><p><strong>Okay, I'm sorry that I'm stopping the chapter here. I know it's not much of a conclusion, but I really didn't want to bore you any further. Also, I had no idea how to end it. Originally, it was going to end after Connie and Steve walked out of Mitchie's room, but I kept rambling for some reason. This was a super slow chapter and I apologize for that but thank you for reading. It should pick up from here, on.<strong>


	5. Harper is the Greatest Best Friend

**A/N: Sorry for the late update. School started yesterday and I'm already not enjoying it, but that's okay because I have my amazing readers! Thanks for reading and reviewing- also for your patience. This story will soon pick up. Don't worry.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Wizards of Waverly Place or Camp Rock.**

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><p>Alex didn't return to school the next day. She had spent most of the night crying herself to sleep and then stayed in bed the rest of the following day. Her parents called Mr. Laritate, who understood and excused the absence.<p>

Harper, on the other hand, wanted to keep up her attendance so she decided to go. It was a Friday so all she had to endure was one day and then she could go back to the Russos' house and be there to comfort Alex.

That entire day was strange for Harper. Everywhere she went, people would be whispering about Mitchie and what happened. All day, she wasn't 'Harper'. She was "that friend of Mitchie's" or 'the friend of that girl who got knocked out at the game." At least three of Harper's teachers held her back after class to see if she was doing okay, seeing as she was Mitchie's best friend. This surprised her because she didn't think any of the teachers even noticed her until now. Another two teachers asked how Mitchie was doing, but since Harper didn't know too much, she wasn't that great of a help.

Harper was kind of relieved that Alex was not present for all of this. She would have hated the constant attention and reminders of what happened.

Fortunately, Jeremy was able to support his girlfriend. He too, was getting asked about Mitchie, but not as relentlessly as Harper was. The couple ate their lunch in the back of the school that day in order to get a half hour's peace from everyone.

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><p>Coming home, Harper walked up to Alex's room to give her the schoolwork she had missed. She knocked on the door, but got no response and decided to crack the door open and peek inside.<p>

"Alex?"

Harper just saw her friend sleeping on the bed, which other than the girl on it, was completely still in tact. Alex had been so tired from the previous night that she had no energy to even get under the covers.

The redhead tip-toed into the room, set the papers on Alex's dresser, and left to join the Russo parents. Jerry was sitting on the couch, watching television while Theresa paced back and forth in the kitchen as she prepared dinner.

"Hey, guys." Harper said coming down the stairs.

"Hi, Harper." Theresa and Jerry said at the same time. There was a hint of gloom in the air. The family was trying to stay strong, mostly for Alex's sake, but they were still heavily effected by what had happened. It seemed as though there was thick, invisible fog inside the house. No one talked about the event, but everyone knew it was all the Russos and Harper could think about. Harper was the first to speak.

"So...School was weird today." She awkwardly informed her friend's parents.

"Oh really? How so?" Theresa asked. Jerry turned off the TV and shifted in his seat to join in the conversation.

"I don't know. People were just acting differently. Suddenly, teachers knew me, random kids would come up to me, asking 'how is she?' or 'what happened?'. I didn't know Mitchie had such a big impact everyone in the school."

"Well, when the popular star athlete of the school ends up in the hospital, word gets around." Jerry said.

Harper nodded in agreement.

"How's Alex?" He added. Alex hadn't let anyone enter her room other than Harper.

"She's not great. She stayed up most of the night crying and I'm assuming she's just been sleeping most of the day. Has she eaten yet?"

"No- I tried to bring up a lunch to her, but she kept saying she wasn't hungry." Theresa told Harper as she handed her two plates of food.

"Here, why don't you try, Harper? She might budge if it's you that asks."

"Okay, no problem." Harper took the plates and walked up the stairs with them.

She lightly rapped on the wooden door and let herself in. After placing the plates on the dresser with the papers, Harper walked over to Alex and sat next to her sleeping form.

"Hey, Alex. Wake up." She whispered, lightly shaking Alex's shoulder.

Alex stirred, let out an agitated groan, and flipped over so that she was no longer facing the other cheer leader.

"Your mom sent me up with some dinner."

"I'm not hungry."

"Come on. You're telling me that Alex Russo, of all people, isn't hungry after not eating for more than 24 hours?"

"... … … Maybe a little..."

"That's my girl." Harper smiled. She grabbed the two plates and handed one to her friend as they began eating. There was a nice, comfortable silence between the two girls.

"Uhm... How was school today?" Alex asked.

"It was okay. Everyone asked how Mitchie was doing."

"That's nice that they care." Alex's eyes began to water.

"Aw, Alex. What's the matter?"

"I just wish I knew what was going on. If I knew what was happening, I might not be so tired trying to draw my own scary conclusions."

"Listen, I know the most frustrating thing you can hear is 'wait and see', but I think that's probably the most accurate. The doctor said it should only take a few days to find out what's wrong. Do you think you can hold out until then?" Harper put a comforting hand on Alex's knee.

"I guess so. It'd probably be the hardest few days ever, though."

"Even harder than the first few days that Mitchie and Gigi started going out?" Harper challenged.

"Yes, but only by a little." Alex gave a small grin at the thought of her young, Sophomore self.

"Is that a smile I'm seeing?"

"I don't know." Alex said, trying her best to pout. But Harper's amused face caused her to let out a quiet giggle. She put her plate down and hugged the redhead, "Thank you so much for staying the night, Harper. Do you think you can stay through the weekend? Just until we hear from Connie?"

Alex looked at Harper. Who couldn't say 'no' to that face?

"Of course I will. I love you." Harper said, pulling out of the hug.

"I love you too." Both girls returned to their plates.

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><p><strong>(Sorry for the small skip)<strong>

The weekend was slow and filled with pure impatience on Alex's part. She tried her best to stay calm over the following two days, but Mitchie was always in the back of her mind.

Harper and Alex carpooled to school that Monday and after going to their lockers to get their things, parted ways to get to first period. Alex walked into her English class and as soon as she crossed the threshold, every student in the room stopped what they were doing and looked at her.

She paused and gave the class a confused look, then checked behind her and confirmed they they were, in fact, looking at her. Alex knew exactly what each person was thinking.

'_That's Alex, Mitchie Torres' girlfriend_.'

Alex decided to shake it off and go straight to her desk, trying hard to ignore the whispers. She spent most of the period looking out the window and not really paying attention to the class.

The bell could not have rung sooner, and Alex shoved all of her stuff into her bag and swiftly rushed out of the room before anyone could try to talk to her. On the way to her second class, Alex got a text message.

**One unread message from: Connie**

_Doctor called. Needs us there. I'm picking you and Harper up at lunch._

Alex had no idea what the doctor could possibly want, but if Connie was picking her and Harper up, that must mean they might get to see Mitchie.

'_Just one more class_.' Alex thought to herself.

Of course, Math dragged on and felt much longer than the hour and a half that it was supposed to be. Alex, once again, endured the stares as she walked in at the beginning of class but she sat through everything as patiently as she could. Sometime in the last 5 minutes of the period, Alex's phone buzzed again.

**One unread message from: Harper**

_Did you get Connie's text? I'll meet you at your locker._

**Compose message to: Harper**

_Yeah I did. I'll see you there._

Alex left immediately after the bell and rushed to her locker, where Harper was waiting patiently.

"Wait, Alex. What about your car?"

"I'll just leave it and Connie can drop us off here afterwords."

"All right. Ready to go?"

"Yep."

The two girls walked out to the parking lot and saw Connie in her car. Alex got in the front seat and Harper sat in the back.

"Hey, girls." Connie said. It was clear that she was a bit nervous.

"Hi, Connie. Did the doctor say what he wanted?" Alex asked.

"No, but he said he had something important to show us."

The ride to the hospital was quick, but quiet. The mom and two girls walked straight into Dr. Schwartz's office, where Steve was already occupying a chair.

"Ah, who do we have here?" Schwartz stood up and approached Harper and Alex.

"Hello, Doctor. This is Mitchie's girlfriend, Alex and her best friend, Harper." Connie introduced them.

"So this is the infamous duo. I've heard a lot about you two from Connie and Steve's visits over the weekend. It's nice to meet you. I just wish it were under better circumstances" He shook. both of their hands.

Alex and Harper both mumbled a 'nice to meet you too' and decided to let Connie sit in the other remaining seat as they stood.

"So, what's up with Mitchie?" Alex blurted out after some silence.

"Well, we ran a few more tests and scans on Mitchie and then took her off of sedation in order to give her body some time to wake up." Dr. Schwartz pulled out an envelope of scans that more or less, looked just like the ones from the first time Mitchie's parents were in his office. He started with the one of Mitchie's eye first as everyone stood up to get a closer look.

"Here, you can see that the swelling has gone down, quite a bit. The eye is still bruised and puffy, but Mitchie was able to open it slightly." He explained.

"So she's awake?" Connie asked eagerly.

The doctor paused.

"Maybe you should pull up a chair."

Steve, concluding that this was not going to be good news, dragged the two chairs over to the board and gave one to Connie and one to Alex. He stood next to Connie, her hand in his, and Harper put a friendly hand on Alex's shoulder.

"Mr. and Mrs. Torres- do you remember this CT scan at all?" Schwartz gestured to the image of the inside of Mitchie's skull.

"Yes. That's the scan you showed us on Thursday." Connie answered.

"That is partly correct. This is actually the scan from yesterday afternoon."

"But it's no different than how I remember it." Steve pointed out.

"That's the issue here. The only difference here, is that there's less blood leaking into Mitchie's skull. The contusions and hematoma, especially the hematoma, are don't seem to be healing as we'd like them too. The bruising of the brain, at least, should have subsided even a little." Dr. Schwartz said in a serious tone.

"What we did, was we took a more detailed scan of the area and noticed that quite a bit of the tissue where the hematoma occurred had been destroyed and the cells won't be able to rebuild themselves."

"What exactly does that mean?" Alex piped up, fearing the worst.

"There's no easy way to tell a family this, but Mitchie has experienced some brain damage from the accident." He waited a moment to give everyone a chance to absorb his words.

Everyone's shoulders dropped and Alex and Connie both looked like they couldn't even comprehend what was going on.

"Exactly how bad is it?" Harper was the first to collect her thoughts and form an actual sentence.

"Well, we won't know until Mitchie fully wakes up. She's had some minor sleep/wake cycles that lasted a few moments, but she's still recuperating from all of the tests and everything. When she wakes up for real, we have a neurologist that will put her through some additional testing to see for sure. From what we can see now, chances are that Mitchie could experience some aphasia- speech problems and it's very common in injuries like this to come across some amnesia."

"You mean she won't remember us?" Alex blurted out, worriedly.

"Again, there's no way of knowing until Mitchie is awake, but she could experience one of two different types of amnesia. Retrograde- where she would not remember much before the accident and Anterograde amnesia, which causes trouble int short-term memory and creating memories after the accident." Schwartz said.

"... So Mitchie is permanently b-brain d-d-damaged?" Connie could barely find the words.

"I don't think it is too much of a severe case, but yes- there will be some permanent effects. Fortunately, though, there is a small chance that with the right rehabilitation and treatment, some of Mitchie's other brain functions will begin to take over and 'learn' how to control one or two of the areas of the brain that were damaged." This gave everyone a little bit of hope, but the situation was still bleak.

"Would Alex and Harper be able to see her today? Please? They've been worrying all weekend and it would really mean a lot." Steve wondered.

Dr. Schwartz turned to the girls. Four beautiful brown eyes looked back at him with slight desperation.

"It's not ideal right now, but I'm sure a quick look won't be any hurt- as long as you try not to wake her up." He agreed.

"We promise." Alex and Harper eagerly said in unison.

Schwartz led the group of four to Mitchie's new room that she was to stay in throughout recovery.

"Harper? Alex? Do you guys want to go in first?" Connie still had tears in her eyes.

"Are you sure?" Alex didn't want to 'hog' Mitchie.

"Of course. You've been waiting this whole time." Connie gave Alex a quick one-armed hug.

Harper put her hand on the doorknob.

"Are you sure you're ready?" She asked Alex.

"Well, I'm as ready as anyone could be in this situation, I guess." Alex shrugged. There was no real way of being 'ready' to see your girlfriend lying on a hospital bed.

Harper took a deep breath, opened the door, and stepped quietly in with Alex right at her heels.

Once the door was open all the way, Harper looked around the room, already assessing what kind of gifts and decorations she would give to Mitchie. Alex squeezed between her friend and the door frame and made a B-line right to the bed.

"Oh god." Alex put one hand on her stomach. This wasn't like in the TV shows where the person just as one IV and some cuts or bruises. Mitchie was hooked up to all of these machines. One was the annoying heart monitor that just kept beeping and the other was not familiar to Alex. It looked like a seismograph, though.

"It's a brainwave monitor. It spikes if Mitchie has a lot of activity going on. They have them in almost every medical show." Harper informed her friend, who was staring at the machine in bewilderment.

Alex nodded and looked back at her girlfriend. Mitchie's right eye was still covered but other than that, if you hadn't known she just suffered head trauma, she looked like any other sleeping teenager. She was still as beautiful as ever in Alex's eyes. Harper walked over to Alex and grabbed her hand as a tear ran down the Russo's cheek.

"You okay?" Harper asked.

"I don't like this feeling. Not one bit. I just feel so helpless because Mitchie's going through this and I can't do a damn thing about it." Alex said, sobbing.

"Look, you _can_ do something. You and I are going to give Mitchie so much support, she's gonna want to fight us off with a stick, all right? That's the only thing you need to do- be there for her. Getting healthy again is up to her and the doctors, so don't even worry about that. Mitchie's a strong girl."

Harper was definitely more able to keep her cool in this situation. She'd already been through it when her Nana had a stroke a couple years back. Alex, on the other hand, had almost no experience with hospitals, other than the sprained ankle she'd received during practice Junior year.

"Harper? How come you always know what to say?"

"The second we became best friends, it was automatically wired into my brain." Harper smiled.

Alex turned to Mitchie and grabbed her right hand.

"Hey, Mitch. You get better, okay? Harper and I will always be here when you need us. I love you so much and it hurts to see you like this, but you'll pull through. Like Harper said- you're a fighter." Alex realized that she was virtually talking to no one and turned to Harper, "I've heard that talking to someone even though they might not hear could help get over the shock." She explained.

"Do what you have to. I won't judge." Harper shrugged.

Alex brought Mitchie's hand to her lips and gave it a lingering kiss. Harper took Mitchie's hand and gave it a light squeeze, silently saying what she wanted to tell her.

Alex sighed and wiped her tears so that she would not look like too much of a mess when they exit the room. Just before the girls turned around, they heard a small beep from one of the machines. They looked at the heart rate monitor, which looked no different than the whole time they've been there.

Harper's eyes wandered to the brain monitor and she noticed a couple slightly larger bumps in the waves. Nothing major- in fact, you'd probably never even notice them unless you knew what to look for- but Harper had always had an eye for little details like that.

"Alex, check this out." She waved her friend over, "Look at the small hills forming in the brain waves."

"Yeah, so?"

"That means there's _something_ going on in Mitchie's head. It's not anything big, but something happened. I think it's another sleep/wake thing. We should let the doctor know."

Alex and Harper turned around and what they saw, nearly gave them a joint heart attack.

Mitchie. Left eye half-open. Staring up at the ceiling.

Alex gasped.

"M-Mitchie?"

No answer.

"Mitch, can you hear me?" Alex called out.

Mitchie just kept her gaze up. It was the same vacant stare from the accident, which worried Alex.

"C'mon, Alex. We should tell them." Harper said, grabbing her dumbfounded friend's hand and guiding her out the door.

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><p><strong>I'm sorry I just kind of ended the chapter here, but I really wanted to get something up because I felt bad. Yay for this being the longest chapter I think I've ever written on any story! Thank you for reading!<strong>


	6. A Hit of Hope Filler

**A/N: Warning: This chapter is the work of the devil. It's short, it's filler, it's literally pointless but I just wanted to get _something_ up to show you that I haven't forgotten about this story or anything.**

**Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed! You are all amazing!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Wizards of Waverly Place or Camp Rock.**

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><p>Harper ushered Dr. Schwartz and Mitchie's parents into the room. Schwartz walked over to Mitchie's left side and carefully removed the cold compress that was attached to her right eye. Her now-mildly less swollen eye was visible and to her loved ones' surprise, she closed her eyes then opened them a second later.<p>

The doctor took out a small flashlight from the front pocket of his coat. He shined it into Mitchie's eyes. The pupils began to slowly shrink.

"Hmm, her pupils are reacting to the light. That's a good sign."

He clapped his hands loudly right next to Mitchie's left hear and she blinked again, but it didn't even make a tick on the brainwave machine.

Doctor Schwartz turned to the family.

"I'm going to call for the neurologist to help run a couple tests. Mitchie seems to have come fully out of sedation, so it's important that we find out anything we can as soon as possible. If you'd like to wait here, I can go get her right now and the tests shouldn't take more than 20 minutes or so." He offered.

"Sure, thank you, Doctor." Connie said, a little shakily.

"No problem. I'll be right back with her." Doctor Schwartz left the room.

Minutes later, a blonde woman who looked to be in her early 40's, opened the door and stepped in.

"Hello, my name is Diane Moser. I'm one of the chief neurologists here." The woman introduced herself.

"Hi, Dr. Moser. We're the parents. My name is Steve Torres and this is my wife, Connie. Over here, we have the best friend, Harper and the girlfriend, Alex." Steve gestured to everyone.

"It's to meet you all. Dr. Schwartz has filled me in on Mitchie's condition. It's important that the family and friends are involved in the healing process so just by being here, you guys are off to a great start on your end."

"Of course," Connie said, "We've all been here for Mitchie since the beginning."

"Well she's a lucky girl." Dr. Moser smiled, "If you want, we have a cafeteria and a coffee counter. You all can grab a quick bite while we evaluate Mitchie and we'll let you know what's going on in a bit."

"That sounds good. None of us have eaten lunch yet. Thank you so much, Doctor. It was nice meeting you." Steve said as he and the three others left the room.

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><p>The four were standing silently in front of the coffee cart just outside the main building. No one except for Steve was able to find their appetite. Coffee usually helped Steve calm his nerves and he really needed it at the moment. It was all very awkward until Connie checked her watch.<p>

"All right, they should be done by now. Let's head up." She began walking back into the building with the family right behind her.

It would be sufficient to say that the elevator ride was just uncomfortable. Outside, when no one was talking, everyone could at least pretend that they were distracted by the surroundings but the trip in the small, metal box was simply awkward. Fortunately, they were only crammed for 15 seconds.

"Girls, why don't you go into Mitchie's room and we'll go talk to the doctors." Steve suggested.

Harper and Alex made their way over to the door and pulled up two chairs by her bed where she slept.

Alex took Mitchie's pale left hand in her own. Just above her right eyebrow, partially nestled under strands of wavy, black hair, Alex spotted her girlfriend's healing cut.

"Hey, Harper- do you think that's gonna leave a scar?" Alex asked.

Harper moved her head around so she could see that side of Mitchie's face without touching her.

"Hmm, looks like it might, but it could fade over time if Mitchie puts lotion on it or something."

Alex was thankful that her friend was a medical show nerd with a natural sense of curiosity.

"Mitchie's gonna hate that." Alex lightly chuckled.

"What do you think it's gonna be like when she's fully awake?" Harper wondered.

"I honestly don't know..." Alex's voice drifted off, not unnoticed by her best friend.

"Whatchya thinking right now?"

"...What if she's not the same person when she wakes up? What if she doesn't remember us? Or what if she'll never live a normal life?" Alex panicked.

"Listen, you can't think like that all right? It won't do you any good and it _certainly _won't to Mitchie any better. I'm not saying don't be worried, but at least hope for the best, okay? As far as we know, she could be damaged beyond repair _or_ she could spring back to her old self in a few weeks. Either way, we're going to be there for here every step of the way, right?"

"You know we are, Harper. I just hope it'll be enough."

"It will be. You love each other and that's more than a lot of people could ask for." Harper hugged her friend.

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><p>Steve and Connie knocked on Dr. Schwartz's office door.<p>

"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Torres. Please, come in and have a seat." He moved out of the way so they could enter.

"Thanks, Doctor. How were the tests?" Connie asked nervously.

"Well," Schwartz wanted to get right to the point, "Mitchie is in a mild, temporary vegetative state right now."

Connie's eyes widened.

"How mild?" Steve jumped in.

"Very." The doctor started, "she has reflexive reactions – ones that don't require any brain activity - and we're going to give her a few more scans this evening. If all goes well, she will begin to slowly rise into what we call a 'minimally conscious state'. Mitchie will be able to acknowledge pain, follow moving objects with her eyes and maybe- _just maybe _start to vocalize. The minimally conscious state is going to be crucial to Mitchie's recovery. Once she enters it, her rehabilitation will be intensive- as in, hours a day and she will be tired and frustrated at first. We have to ask that everyone be as patient and supportive as they can. It'll be a fragile time for Mitchie."

Connie was still very concerned, but overall, she felt a smalls tinge of relief.

"Thank you, Doctor. We'll go get the girls and see you tomorrow evening." Steve shook Dr. Schwartz's hand and he and his wife walked out of the office.

Once the door closed, Connie turned to Steve.

"Our baby's a fighter." She said with a tear of mixed emotions rolling down her face.

Comfort in the fact that Mitchie seems to be improving, concern as a mother, and fear for the future.

"Yes she is. And she has a whole army behind her." Steve hugged his wife and lovingly kissed the top of her head as he gently rocked her in his arms before making his way to meet up with the girls.

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><p><strong>I thoroughly apologize for this chapter. I didn't even proofread because it frustrated me so much.<strong>

**To make it up to y'all, I'm going to take a short rest from this story and write a one-shot. It's not a hiatus or anything. I just need to rest my brain.**

**The one-shot is Mitchie/Alex, but it's a happier one, so that's some good news.**

**Sorry, again.**


	7. I Apologize for this Chapter

**A/N: I'm SO sorry for the delay in updating. I've been super stressed with school things and life and everything, so hopefully, I have your forgiveness? :)  
><strong>

**Also, I don't know any hospital protocols for visitors, so let's just pretend that what I'm saying is perfectly legit, shall we?**

**For those of you still reading, thank you. I love you all!**

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><p>Four days have passed and Alex had spent them on autopilot. Since Connie told her about the chance of Mitchie reaching awareness soon, she had been going straight from cheerleading practice to the hospital, where she would try to do as much homework as she could before finding any excuse to stop, then back home where she would sleep and then repeat the process.<p>

Because Alex was 18, Mitchie's parents were able to file her as an emergency contact. That that status, Alex was also granted access to Mitchie's room after visiting hours were over. Connie and Steve signed Alex on the one condition that she would be home by 10:30 on nights that she visited, which happened to be every night. They loved that someone was there for Mitchie when they had to work, but they also wanted Alex to be able to get her own rest and everyone knew she wouldn't if she was at the hospital.

It was now Saturday and Harper was able to join Alex for an entire day while Mitchie's mom was doing some grocery shopping and her dad was at an unavoidable meeting for work. Harper just brought a couple white posters with "Get Well Soon, Mitchie! - Love Harper and Alex!" written in big black letters on them- nothing so bright that it would give any shock to Mitchie when she woke up. After hanging up the first poster, Alex walked over with a pen and drew a small heart in the lower right-hand corner.

Harper had also brought over a ton of board games and DVDs for her and Alex to watch while they were with Mitchie. The room had a nicely sized television and DVD player in the upper left corner of the wall, so the two cheerleaders decided to use it to its full potential.

After watching a couple episodes of F.R.I.E.N.D.S., Harper got uncomfortable sitting in the hard chairs by Mitchie's bed and got up to walk towards the door.

"I'm gonna go grab a sandwich down at the cafeteria. Do you want anything?"

"Uh, sure. I'll just get whatever you're having." Alex was never picky when it came to food.

"Awesome. I'll be up in a bit." Harper closed the door and Alex was left alone in the silent room.

She quietly tip-toed over to Mitchie's bedside and subtly kissed the sleeping girl on the lips. Alex rested their foreheads together and closed her eyes. She reveled in Mitchie's touch, even if it was a non-responsive one. Occasionally, a soft "I love you" would slip out.

After a few moments, there was a knock on the door.

"You don't have to knock, Harper. It's just me and Mitchie." Alex called out, straightening up.

To her surprise, Harper was not the one to walk through the door. Dr. Schwartz peeked his head into the room and stepped in.

"Oh. I thought you were Harper."

"Sorry to disappoint. It's just me. I have to run some quick tests if that's all right with you. You're free to stay in the room." He offered.

"Thanks. I'll get out of your way." Alex walked to the opposite side of the room so the doctor could have his space.

She couldn't see much, but she did notice the doctor flinch and mumble to himself while examining Mitchie.

"What? What's wrong?" She asked, worriedly.

"Nothing. Look at this." He motioned Alex closer and pointed at Mitchie's eyes.

As Dr. Schwartz moved his finger around, Mitchie's subtly twitched in their direction. You wouldn't even notice it if you didn't know what to look for.

"Connie said that that's only a reflex- that you told her Mitchie's brain doesn't actually need to control eye twitches." Alex was in doubt.

"And Connie was right, but now check the brain wave monitor."

Alex walked around to the right side of the bed and leaned in just enough to grab a quick peek at the screen and what she saw made her eyes go wide.

On the screen the world's tiniest little bumps were popping up every so often, replacing the perpetual straight line from before.

"Does that mean? ...She's...awake?..."

"Not entirely, but she is coming out of her vegetative state. It will be very slow but I think from here, in relation to her level on consciousness, it can only go up as long as we keep a close eye on her once she's alert."

Alex looked at Mitchie like she was the most proud of someone that anyone could be. She sat there looking at Mitchie, not saying anything even though Schwartz was still in the room.

"...Something on your mind, Alex?"

"Eh, just stuff."

"...Is it Mitchie stuff?"

"...Yeah." She said sheepishly.

"Well, I know I'm probably no Harper but if you have any questions, I'd be willing to answer them." The doctor smiled.

Alex was hesitant. She really didn't want to sound dumb, but there were so many things running through her head that Connie and Steve weren't able to explain.

She just shrugged, "I don't know."

"That's all right. If you change your mind, I'll be in my office until this evening- then, I'm making my rounds." Schwartz turned towards the door. Just as he turned the handle, he was stopped by a small voice.

"Wait."

He turned to see Alex, still standing near the machines, staring back at him with the facial expression of a small child who has just lost their parent in a store.

"I think I have a few questions."

Dr. Schwartz's expression softened and he smiled at the girl as he invited Alex back to her chair.

"First of all, can she hear us? I feel weird talking about her like she's not here, when she can listen in."

"I don't think her hearing is quite there yet. She's only barely moving her eyes. It will be a while until she's back to her senses."

Alex nodded.

"...What's going through her mind?"

"Well," Schwartz dragged over Harper's seat and placed it a few feet in front of Alex's.

"From the point of impact to just before her eyes started moving, nothing was going through Mitchie's head- hence the term, _unconscious_. See, when you're conscious, you're in a state of awareness and you can react to your surroundings. When you're unconscious, your brain isn't quite turned on. It's still working enough to make your heart beat or, hopefully, help your lungs breathe, but you're not aware of the situation. Unconscious people can't see, hear, or feel anything. They can't experience pain- physical or emotional in their state, which is why it's good that Mitchie is climbing up the levels of consciousness."

"So a few days ago when she blinked?"

"Those are what are called startle reflexes."

Without warning, Schwartz leaned forward and clapped as loudly as he could right next to Alex's ear, just as he had previously done with her girlfriend before.

"OH GEEZ!" Alex jumped suddenly and gave the doctor a partially-joking glare.

"Well, that wasn't very nice." She said trying to regain her composure.

"Ah, but you didn't have to think about it, did you? Your brain didn't say 'oh something loud just happened. I'm going to react now.' right? You just jumped. That's like what happened with Mitchie. Same thing happened when she was subjected to a pinch on the arm. Her muscle flexed, but that was also just a reflex. I'm going to call back Doctor Moser to perform some more diagnostics this afternoon. Would you like to call Mitchie's parents and tell them the good news, or do should I?"

"I can do it." Alex smiled.

"All right. Well, I'll see you soon." Schwartz was about to close the door when Alex spoke up again.

"Hey, Doctor Schwartz?"

"Yeah?"

"...Thank you." (**A/N: Yes, I know this is very cliche, but I had no other way to have Schwartz exit the room without it being awkward haha**)

"Anytime." With a smile, the door was shut and Alex pulled out her phone to call Connie and Steve.

About a minute later, Harper walked back into the room, complaining about the ridiculously crowded cafeteria. She tossed Alex a sandwich and sat down wile Alex finished up her phone call.

"What are you calling Mitchie's parents for?" Harper wondered.

"Harper, you gotta see this." Alex smiled, "Mitchie's eyes moved."

Alex grabbed Harper's hand and walked over to Mitchie's bed, but when they looked, Mitchie was back in what Alex assumed was another sleep cycle. Her shoulders dropped in defeat.

"Aw, I'm sorry, Alex." Harper said sympathetically rubbing her friend's back.

"It's okay. We'll just wait until Dr. Schwartz comes back with Dr. Moser and Mitchie's parents are here. I swear, it was awesome."

"Can't wait to see it." Harper smiled. They both looked at Mitchie for a while and watched her sleep. She looked so peaceful

"Well, I'm sure she'll do it again. Let's pop in a DVD until Connie and Steve show up." Alex suggested. The two girls turned their chairs toward the television and Alex kept a loving grip on Mitchie's right hand.

* * *

><p>The movie was ignored for the most part because Alex was filling Harper in on what Dr. Schwartz was telling her about. They were just ending the conversation when a knock was heard from the outside.<p>

"Come in." Harper said.

The door opened and in walked Connie and Dr. Schwartz.

"Hey, Connie." Alex and Harper greeted Mitchie's mom in unison.

"Hi, girls. Steve is gonna stop by once his meetings are done. You said something happened with Mitchie. Is she okay?" Connie was a bit shaken by Alex's lack of details over the phone.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Torres. This is a very good thing." Schwartz assured her as she visible relaxed.

"Mitchie's making great progress through the stages of consciousness. She's now in the Minimally Conscious Sate. This one usually usually will last the longest- besides, of course, full consciousness. I was performing the usual daily tests that occur every afternoon and while I was seeing if Mitchie could track my finger with her eyes, they would twitch in the direction that they were supposed to. When, examining the brain wave monitor, I saw that there was, in fact, some brain activity. Not a whole lot, but she's definitely off to a start. Now, I've called Dr. Moser to come back in a bit so we can do a more detailed examination and see if there's anything that we missed."

"Oh wow. That's great." Connie said, slightly amazed. She was nothing short of elated that she being told good news instead of what she was expecting.

"Yes it is." Dr. Schwartz smiled, "Well, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go call Dr. Moser so we can set up an appointment time."

"Thank you." Connie said as he closed the door. She turned to Harper and Alex, "So it was nice of you girls to come in today. I'm so grateful that you both have been so supportive and everything." Connie hugged the two girls.

When the trio pulled away, Connie sighed and walked over to Mitchie.

"So she's been okay while I've been gone?"

"Yep. We haven't left her side at all." Alex said proudly.

"That's great. Is there anything I can get you two?"

"We're good." Harper said, "We got a couple sandwiches. Here, take a seat."

Harper pushed her chair up behind Connie so she could sit. Connie cradled Mitchie's right hand in her left and subconsciously ran her thumb side-to-side on the top of her daughter's limp wrist.

"Hey," Alex spoke up, "So I talked to Dr. Schwartz. He's actually a pretty cool guy. He-" The cheerleader was cut off by a gasp.

Connie's head snapped down and she focused on the faint pressure coming from under her fingers.

Mitchie's index finger was trying its hardest to find a grip around her mother's. The trembling digit caused tears to well up in Connie's eyes. Alex walked up behind her and wrapped her arms around her neck in a friendly hug.

"She's coming back." Connie whispered through a teary smile.

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><p><strong>The entire final 3rd of this chapter was lazy writing. I'll be the first to admit it. I still have to learn how to end chapters.<strong>

**I did, however, make a special note to make sure that I would make Dr. Schwartz most than just the bearer of bad news so I gave him that little optimistic talk with Alex.**

**Sorry for any errors. I wanted to get this out tonight, so I was on a bit of a time crunch. I rushed through the proofreading so, sorry for anything I missed.**

**I apologize for the ending to this and the fact that it's pretty much the same as the ending to the last chapter. I also apologize for the act that this story really isn't moving very quickly. I'm working on it, so if you stick with me, hopefully you won't be too disappointed. **

**Also, I think after this story is done, I'm going to stick to one and two-shots for a while. (The Jock Gets The Girl companion piece counts as a series of one shots so don't worry about that. I'm still going to write that). I just think that a multi-chapter story is a bit much for me so I'm going to take a break from them after TBI is finished and write short things and then once I have a better plan, then I'll go back because honestly, TBI and Hang in There were/are both written on the spot. That's why they suck but no more suckage for a while after this! Huzzah!**

**P.S.**

**I don't really say 'Huzzah' in everyday life. In fact, I'm sure that's the first time I've ever officially used the word.**

**I'll shut up now. Thanks for reading.**


	8. People Can Be So Cruel

**A/N: I know, I'm horrible for not updating, but I hope you still like me enough to read. I promise that once I find a good time, I will pick back up to the pace I used to write. For now, I'll be spitting out random (probably short filler) chapters, so I apologize.**

**This is SUPER short, the shortest of the whole thing so far. I'm hitting an awful case of writer's block and debating which direction to take this story, but I really wanted to get something up because I miss writing even though it's only been about a week.**

**Sorry for the small skip. If I didn't do it, this story would move 10 times slower than it already does.**

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><p>Over the course of the next few days, Mitchie's condition improved greatly. She was able to hear for the most part, open her eyes and follow objects with them for short periods of time, and respond to a couple simple commands- move fingers and toes, blink when told to, etc.<p>

Mitchie had a lot of visitors come by. One day, Alex opened the hospital room door to see the entire varsity girls' soccer team in the hallway. They brought over a ball that everyone signed and one of the hexagons read "Get well soon, Mitchie! We miss you!" in blue glitter, for the school colors. The cheerleading squad also gave Alex a card to put on Mitchie's bedside table.

Jerry and Theresa Russo even made a couple appearances in the room. Theresa read that it's good to talk to people in conditions like Mitchie's so that's just what she did. Someone who couldn't respond back was the perfect listener since every time Theresa began to ramble to people in her own family, they would just ignore her. In fact, on a couple occasions, she talked for so long that Alex had to make up excuses that she needed food so that her mom would get it for her- anything to get peace and quiet in the room the room so that Mitchie no longer had to endure the rants. Alex would then chuckle out an apology for her mom and lean over to kiss Mitchie on the forehead.

* * *

><p>Even though Alex wanted to stay at Mitchie's bedside 247, school and cheerleading practice always seemed to rear their ugly heads. Alex wanted to take a break from cheerleading until Mitchie was better, but Connie convinced her that it would help keep her mind clear if she just went on with her normal routine as much as possible.

Tuesday rolled around and Alex went through class, not paying attention and ignoring the lesson as usual. Come lunchtime, she walked towards the cafeteria and saw Harper and Jeremy waiting for her in front of the entrance, looking nervous.

"Hey, guys. Why aren't you going inside?" She asked.

"How about we eat outside today? You know, get some fresh air?" Jeremy suggested.

"It's October in New York, Jer. It's rainy and freezing." Alex countered, "What's wrong with the cafeteria?"

"Nothing, just crowded…stuffy…" Harper trailed off.

"What are you guys talking about?" Alex squeezed past them and walked into the lunchroom. Nothing seemed changed, other than the group of kids who were crowding around someone's phone, watching a video. They seemed to be really into it, until one noticed Alex and shushed everyone else. The kids looked up and saw her confused face, then separated, trying to make it seem like they weren't all together. The one whose phone they were looking at remained in his seat, though, as Alex walked up to him.

"What was that all about?"

"Nothing." He responded too quickly for Alex not to be suspicious.

"No, really. What were they looking at on your phone?"

"What phone?" The student tried stuffing it back into his pocket, not even bothering to lock the screen.

"Really?...Ugh, whatever." Alex scoffed. She quickly made her way back to Jeremy and Harper.

"Harper, you know what they were looking at, don't you? Why did they get all weird when they saw me?"

"Psh - I don't know what you're talking about" Harper tried acting cool about the situation.

"Harper…?" Alex stared at her best friend, knowing she would eventually cave. Harper always caved if she was being stared at long enough.

"Fine…Someone…Someone had a video camera at the game. They put the video of Mitchie's accident up on the internet and then sent the link around." Harper said sadly.

"…How far around did it go?" Alex was in disbelief that someone could do this.

"Pretty far…" Jeremy informed her.

"Exactly how far?" She pushed.

Jeremy sighed and took his phone out, typed in the video name and handed Alex the phone.

The first thing she noticed was the crude title the uploader had given it- big, bold letters that said:

**SOCCER GOALIE FAIL! GIRL GETS KNOCKED THE F**K OUT!1!1111!**

The video started playing and Alex witnessed what she had her back turned for that day. She saw Mitchie, the dive, the kick, and even a couple seconds of herself running toward the goal. She could even slightly pick up on the sick sound of the impact between Mitchie's head and the goalpost. The video cut off when a voice from off-screen said "turn the camera off." Alex assumed it was the camera person's father.

Completely in a daze, Alex scrolled down through the comments and felt nauseous reading some of them.

"_daaaaayyyyuuuuummmm that had to hurt!"_

"_KO!"_

"_wouldn't wanna get in a fight with the b**ch that kicked her"_

_"is she dead?__"_

Tears sprang into Alex's eyes and her hands trembled as she nearly threw the phone back to Jeremy. She took two furious deep breaths through her nose and stormed out of the building.

"I'll go after her." Harper said, following her friend. She caught up to Alex just as the girl stepped into the parking lot.

"Alex, come back! What about class?"

"I can't be here right now." Alex answered solemnly. She got into her green car and sped down the block in a huff.

* * *

><p>As much as Alex tried to regain some kind of composure, she still let out a quiet sob when she saw her girlfriend sleeping in the overly-sanitized white sheets and baby blue hospital gown. Images from the video flashed in her mind at the sight of Mitchie's prone figure.<p>

Alex rushed to the bed and immediately attached her lips to every inch of Mitchie's face, careful of her right eye, that was still very bruised. She she desperately kissed all the places she could find, occasionally pulling away to wipe her tears that had fallen onto Mitchie's own features, all the while, whispering to her girlfriend.

"I love you. I love you so much. I love you. I love you. I love you..."

* * *

><p><strong>I'm so very super duper sorry for this chapter. I'm in a rut, but we're going to get through this together, right? I'm really determined to not abandon this so just think of this as a rough patch for now. Bear with me and I will love you forever!<strong>


	9. Why do I continue to torture you all

**A/N: Hey everyone! If you're still reading this, I applaud and thank you. It's going to be a bit of a bumpy road from here on out, but I promise I will bring this story to a close in the best way that I can when the time comes.**

**There are a couple time skips in this and I apologize for that but at this point, I'm just guessing with the timeline. I'm really bad at keeping up with one, so we'll just have to see. It won't be awful, though…I hope.**

**Also, I cut this chapter really short. I'm just not feeling it.**

* * *

><p>Mitchie's recovery was coming along "very nicely", in Dr. Schwartz's own words. Because Mitchie was young and incredibly healthy (all present conditions aside), he predicted that she other than some minor defects that would be with her indefinitely, she would make an almost full recovery.<p>

Of course, with head injuries, you can never assume or predict anything but Schwartz made a checklist of where Mitchie should be "in the best case scenario" as per Connie and Steve's request and Alex's agreement. They just needed something visual to bring peace of mind even if it was hypothetical.

According to the chart, Mitchie should have been going through regular sleep/wake cycles, reaching and grabbing objects, vocalizing slightly, and she should have been able to follow objects with her eyes or turning her head in the direction of a sound.

So far, she had the sleep/wake cycles (although, it was usually more sleep than wake), she had her voice coming back to her but no actual words, and her ability to pursue moving objects with her eyes had come back fairly quickly.

Schwartz explained to everyone that in a large majority of cases, the sense of motor control was usually the slowest to recover. That was hard news to take seeing as Mitchie was an athlete who relied on major usage of her arms and legs.

* * *

><p>Since Alex discovered the existence of the video from the soccer game a couple days ago, she had put all of her focus into two tasks. Find and assault whoever shot the clip, and support her girlfriend 10 times more than she already was.<p>

The day that Alex saw the video, something in her mind turned on and she kicked into super-intense-supportive-girlfriend mode. After her moment with Mitchie, she marched right up to the Doctor's office and asked every question she could think of that pertained to caring for someone with a brain injury.

Doctor Schwartz, happy to see such a tight group of people for Mitchie, set up a date where Mitchie's parents, Alex, and Harper could all come in and he would go through some basics about talking to Mitchie because she could finally hear- not fully understand everything, but the talking should calm her.

After learning how to talk to a head trauma patient, Schwartz had each of Mitchie's loved ones sit and "practice", so to speak, with her. Everyone was grateful to have the opportunity to participate. In the event that only one person was able to make it to the hospital, that person would not feel uncomfortable in the silence of the room.

* * *

><p>The more Alex, Harper, and Mitchie's parents came to talk and hang out with Mitchie, the more she seemed to respond to the familiar faces when they showed up. It was better to have a small group of people who showed up often, rather than a bunch of people coming and going frantically.<p>

Mitchie was beginning to use her voice much more than previous days. There were no coherent phrases or words, but grunts and grumblings every now and then.

Talking to Mitchie was quite a process, though. Small exchanges that would normally last 30 seconds would take up to a minute- a minute and a half at most. She would be asked something basic like, "how are you feeling today?" and it would take her a few moments to process and absorb any content.

Mitchie's mind was set in slow motion, as Dr. Schwartz had explained it. Slow motion was better than no-motion though. These tiny half-conversations were showing signs that Mitchie was becoming better at being able to respond to other people. They knew she could hear them and for the most part, understand what they were saying. It was just the hurdle of getting her brain to signal her to react.

"Uunnhh" Mitchie groaned in a low, raspy voice to her mother and girlfriend.

The two were sitting in chairs by Mitchie's bed, just shooting the breeze while Alex attempted to do her homework.

"She's been doing that a lot today, like- more than usual." Alex pointed out to Connie.

"Hopefully, it's a good sign." Connie replied.

Alex grinned back and began to rise out of her seat.

"I have to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back."

Connie nodded and once the door closed, she leaned over to Mitchie and took her right hand. Feeling the light squeeze, Mitchie slowly blinked her eyes open. Her eyebrows knitted in confusion as the blurry face of a woman began to focus itself.

"Hey, honey. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you." A soft voice that could only belong to Connie Torres sounded.

After what seemed like minutes of staring, Mitchie had mustered up everything she had and pushed through her haze as hard as she could.

"M-Mm-Mo...M…Mo-M"

Tears immediately formed in Connie's eyes and clouded her vision.

"Y-Yes, Mitchie. It's me…It's your mom." She now had a firmer grip on Mitchie's hand in hopes that it would prompt her to continue.

"L…L-le…Lex…" Mitchie breathed out, her eyes drooping.

"Alex? She's in the bathroom but she'll be back in a couple minutes or so."

Mitchie nodded once and her head lolled to the right as she drifted back to sleep.

_Wow, that must have taken a lot out of her_, Connie thought to herself.

She leaned down and quickly kissed her daughter's forehead before returning to her seat, but kept her grip on the girl's hand. She let out a happy sigh and with her free hand, blotted away the tears in the corners of her eyes that had not yet fallen.

She turned to see the door open and a cheery Alex step into the room.

"So, did I miss anything?" Of course, Alex hadn't expected to miss anything. It was just something she'd say whenever she'd leave and come back to keep conversation going. Alex became slightly more serious when she saw that Mitchie's mom's had become red and watery.

"What's wrong, Connie? Did something happen to Mitchie?" Alex rushed to the bedside and scanned her girlfriend for any changes.

Connie just smiled and told her to have a seat.

* * *

><p><strong>Laksjflasjgljslgjs;xlgjasrj;t<strong>

**Okay, sorry for that cop-out ending to the chapter.**

**I don't know what to do with this story anymore. I mean I know what I want to do and how I want it to go- I just can't seem to find a way to put it into words. This story is stressing me out more than it should.**

**I'm debating ditching the whole timeline thing and writing it how I'm going to write the companion piece to Jock, but I'd really hate to make the story inconsistent. I just don't know how to go about this. I've really been hating the last few chapters and I don't want to give up on this story, but I'm at a loss.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading. I'm sorry if you read this chapter. I always cringe when I hit the "submit chapter" button but most of the time, the need to get **_**anything**_** out outweighs the need to get in something perfect, you know?**

**I won't bore you anymore with my ramblings. Thanks again. We'll see how this goes.**


	10. Mitchie's baaaaack

**A/N: Okay. First of all, big huge props to **_**Ad3n**_ **for feeding me ideas of where to go with this story. I was completely stuck and it was amazing that someone came through and helped cure my writer's block. The next few chapters have all been sprouted from the help she gave me, so if you like them, tell her thank you!**

**Also, thank you to **_**PerhapsDL4SG**_ **for checking up on me every so often and making sure I was still alive hahaha**

**You two are the best. Thank you so much for all the kindness ever since the beginning!**

**Sorry for the time skip again. It had to happen but don't worry. You haven't missed anything.**

**Speaking of the time line, I totally lost track again. I should really write this stuff down from now on but let's just say it has been about 3 weeks since the accident.**

* * *

><p><strong>-3 Days Later-<strong>

Ever since Alex missed Mitchie's first brief moment of consciousness, she vowed not to leave the hospital bedside until she could hear her girlfriend's voice for herself.

The 4-day Thanksgiving weekend was coming up, so Alex decided only to go to school that Monday and Tuesday. She took Wednesday off and spent the day with Mitchie. Being 18, Alex no longer needed her parents' permission to skip a day.

Alex loved coming in on days where it would just be her and Mitchie. She loved Mitchie's parents and Harper of course, but since the accident, she rarely had much alone time. Now that Mitchie was in a more stable, improving condition, Connie and Steve felt more comfortable trying to revert back to their normal routines, which meant being at work for a longer amount of time each day.

It was a chilly morning around 11:00 when Alex walked into Mitchie's room, where she was met by Dr. Schwartz.

"Morning, Alex." He smiled.

"Hey, Doc." Alex strolled into the room and saw that Mitchie was sleeping so she closed the door quietly behind her.

Schwartz pulling his latex gloves off and was about to dispose of them when Alex saw that there was a small coat of red on the finger tips.

"Is everything all right with Mitchie?" She asked with wide eyes.

"What?" Dr. Schwartz was unaware of Alex's observation, "Oh!" he realized what she meant, 'Yes, everything is fine with Mitchie. Last time her parents were here, we discussed giving her different feeding tube method because it looks like it might be a while until she'd be able to feed herself. We talked about several methods, and the one that seemed most compatible with Mitchie was a gastric feeding tube. Instead of nutrients going down her esophagus, they'll go straight into her lower intestine. It's a minor bedside surgical procedure, which explains the blood, and this tube will last longer than the nasal one. I was just finishing the insertion. I'll be leaving once I clean the incision I made. If you want to talk to her, she's awake but slightly sedated. She can hear you though and it should wear off in about a half hour or so."

Dr. Schwartz wiped around an area on Mitchie's abdomen and gave Alex a nod before crossing the room and exiting.

As if by reflex, Alex pulled up a chair, and held Mitchie's hand.

"Hey..." She hesitated. As many times as she's been alone with her girlfriend over the past 3 weeks, it was still bizarre talking to someone, knowing that the person can hear you but not respond.

"It's Thanksgiving tomorrow...I wasn't sure if you knew that already, but it is...I got our parents to agree to bring Thanksgiving here, so the Russos and the Torres' will all be together with you. Harper's gonna be with Jeremy but she said she'd call. I don't know if you'd be able to eat the food, but it should still be an awesome holiday."

Alex proceeded to talk through a solid 45 minutes about whatever popped into her head. She was sure Mitchie might have been sick of hearing her ramblings.

"...and it took Jeremy like, 2 hours to get the pizza sauce off of his pants." Alex chuckled, recalling a lunch incident from the previous day.

She was taken aback when she heard a faint second voice and a loud, curt, exhale coming from...Mitchie's bed?

_Was that a...laugh?_, Alex thought to herself.

"...sauuuze." Mitchie slurred with a hint of a very small smile at her mouth.

Her eyes slowly blinked open, only this time, Alex was almost certain this wasn't just another short wave of consciousness. No, Mitchie was actually looking at her, eyes half-lidded, but they weren't closing.

"Al...lex..." she breathed, "...habbin? (_what happened?_)" Mitchie's words came out in tired whispers.

Alex immediately felt her eyes begin to water and her throat develop a lump – only a happy one this time. She was at a complete loss for words.

"I-uh...What-Let me get a doctor." Alex stood up, frazzled and began to turn around. She was stopped in her tracks when a subtle grip was felt around her hand. Looking down she came to realize that her fingers were still linked with Mitchie's. Mitchie's grip was almost pathetic and Alex could have easily slipped her hand out of it, but she couldn't bring herself to break the contact.

"S...S-tay...with...m...e...just...a cooouple...minutesss."

Alex sighed her nerves away so that her voice wouldn't break the second she said anything.

"Of course." She smiled.

Mitchie slowly turned her head to the right side, facing Alex, and looked around the room. She saw the table across the room filled with flowers and the wall behind it had Harper and Alex's banner taped onto it.

"Where...am I?" She knitted her eyebrows, the scar above her right one shifted with them.

"You're...at Tribeca Medical Center, the...hospital..." Alex's voice wavered. She was unsure of what she was able to tell Mitchie and what she should leave to the doctor.

"W-why?" If Mitchie's face could look _any_ more confused, it just did.

"I think the best person to talk to you would be the doctor. Please let me get him? I'll be back in less than a minute, I promise." Alex pleaded. She was trying to savor the moment to her best ability, but Mitchie was asking questions that Alex wasn't at liberty to answer.

Mitchie slowly nodded and loosened her hold on Alex's hand. Alex leaned down and kissed Mitchie's cheek.

"I'll be right back." She whispered.

Alex left the room and _ran_ towards Dr. Schwartz's office.

Mitchie stayed put, unmoving and slightly terrified from not knowing where she was.

_What the hell happened?_

* * *

><p><strong>Just so there's no confusion, that last line was not <em>really<em> Mitchie's inner thought. Mentally, she's not all there yet, but that is the main idea of what she's thinking. Basically it _is_ what she's thinking but in more coherent terms.**

**Sorry if there are any mistakes. I just couldn't wait to get this out because I felt so bad.**

**Thanks for reading and I'm sorry it's so short, but I think I'm coming out of my slump so hopefully, there should be some more chapters coming up. They'll be short also, but that should mean they'll come more often than they have lately...I hope. I can't promise anything other than the fact that I _will_ finish this.**


	11. What's going on?

**A/N: It really is good to be back. I've missed this. Thank you to **_**manhattanProject**_ **for offering to help also. That's really sweet of you! I'll let you know if I need anything. Everyone here has been so supportive. I love it.**

**P.S. – I'm forsaking all hope of being medically realistic. I won't make it unbelievable, but at this rate, I need to do some things that may or may not actually be possible. We'll see.**

* * *

><p>Seconds after Alex had rushed into Schwartz's office out of breath and begging for him to come to Mitchie's room, the doctor and the cheerleader were both making haste towards her door.<p>

"Mitchie?" Dr. Schwartz asked gently as he walked up to the bed.

Mitchie looked at him and squinted.

"Who…'re…you?" She looked more awake, but her speech still sounded dazed.

"Mitchie, my name is Doctor Schwartz. You're at Tribeca Medical Center. I'm going to have Alex call your parents, and once they're here, I'll answer any questions you have, okay?" He spoke as if talking to a small child, which would have irritated Alex had it not been for the situation.

"Is that all right?" He turned around.

"Yeah, no problem." Alex was already pulling her phone out of her pocket.

* * *

><p>"…And those are my thoughts on how to better sell the product." Connie was at the head of a conference table, finishing up a presentation in front of her colleagues when her phone rang inside of her purse.<p>

"I'm sorry," She said, looking at the caller ID, "This could be something about Mitchie."

Connie's co-workers and boss all nodded and smiled sympathetically. She could not have asked for a more understanding group of people to work with.

"Hi, Alex. Is everything okay?"

"You need to get down here right now!" Alex said frantically into the receiver.

"What's wrong with Mitchie?" Connie's eyes went wide as fear caused her heart to skip a beat.

"Nothing…Connie, she's awake. Like, full-fledged _awake_-awake."

"I'll be right over." Connie hung up without saying good-bye and looked to her boss.

"Um…Mitchie. She-she's awake. Uh, I don't know any details, but-"

"-Go." The older man in a navy blue suit smiled.

"Thank you." She said halfway out the door. Pulling out her phone, she scrolled down her contacts list to her husband's name and pressed call.

"Hey, I got Alex's call." Steve started, "I'm already on my way but traffic is ridiculous. You're closer than I am. Start without me. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Are you sure?" Connie reached her car.

"Of course! Go meet Alex. I'll be there…And hey… She's going to be okay, honey."

"I love you." She started the engine.

"I love you too. I'll see you soon." Steve hung up his cell. Even though he was doing it, he did not like the idea of Connie talking on the phone while driving. He didn't need both of his favorite women in the hospital.

* * *

><p>A record 14 minutes after the call, Connie burst through Mitchie's door. Everyone immediately looked at her and Mitchie slowly turned her head.<p>

"…Mo…m."

"Hey, Mitchie..." Connie nodded to Alex and walked to her daughter's bedside with tears of joy in her eyes.

"Is your husband going to be joining us?" Dr. Schwartz piped up.

"Oh, he's stuck in traffic, but he said to go on without him. What's the story?"

"We'll know soon. I just need to go over a quick set of questions with Mitchie and I needed you here. Then we'll know and I can get a hold of Dr. Moser." He assured.

"Mitchie," He focused on the bed, "Can you follow my finger?"

Schwartz moved his finger slowly back and forth in front of Mitchie's eyes and she followed pretty well until he began to speed up his pace and complicate the trail. She got a bit lost after a while. The doctor scribbled something on Mitchie's chart while mumbling to himself about "visual pursuit".

"Okay, Mitchie? Can you wiggle your fingers and toes?"

He saw Mitchie's toes moving under the covers, but her fingers were moving in more tiny sudden, jarring spasms.

"Is there something wrong?" Alex asked.

"Some suspected damage to her motor skills is just showing up now. Hopefully, nothing to be too alarmed about, though."

"Mitchie, can you lift your arms?"

Mitchie closed her eyes, concentrating as hard as she could on the simple task. Both arms raised a couple inches off the bed, but she was not able to keep them up for more than a few seconds.

"If it's all right, could I ask you, Alex, to stand on this side at the foot of the bed?" He directed Alex to stand at the left-hand corner by Mitchie's feet, "and Connie, if you could stand on the other side?"

Connie stood at the right side of Mitchie's feet.

"Mitchie, can you turn your head toward your mom?"

Mitchie's head lazily leaned toward her right shoulder and she made eye contact with her mother.

"Very good, Mitchie. Now can you turn your head toward Alex?" Mitchie successfully did so, and was met with a pair of deep brown eyes.

"S'goin on?" Mitchie whispered lowly.

"You were in an accident on the soccer field 3 weeks ago, Mitchie. A girl kicked you in the head and it made an impact with the metal goal post, which knocked your brain around from the inside. You've got a pretty serious head injury so I need you to take it easy as I tell you this information, okay? You started bleeding into your brain, but we drained it out through a small incision into your skull. There was a lot of bruising, and more likely than not, there _will_ be some permanent, if not – long-term, effects. You had a moderate contusion to your right eye that required a few stitches. The swelling was severe, but we got it down. Now, there is still some bruising, but your eye should make a full recovery in no time." Dr. Schwartz knew to end bad news with news that was at least a little bit optimistic, if there was any.

"What...'bout...G...G-Gigiii" Mitchie slurred.

"What?"Alex had to keep herself from seeming too surprised.

"Who's Gigi?" Dr. Schwartz asked.

"Mitchie's ex from Sophomore year..." Alex told him, her eyes never leaving Mitchie's as they narrowed.

"Ex?..." Mitchie was confused again.

"Hmm..." Dr. Schwartz walked closer to Mitchie and spoke in a soft voice, "Mitchie...can you tell me how old you are?"

"...S-sigs...teen..."

"What?" Alex interjected again.

"Did she say sixteen?" Connie worried.

"Mitchie, can you tell me what year of high school you're in right now?"

"Sov...more..."

"What's going on?" Alex walked up to Mitchie's right side and rested her hands on the sheets.

"I can't be sure until we get Dr. Moser to examine her, but it seems like Mitchie is experiencing some retrograde amnesia – difficulty remembering events that happened before the accident. This was expected due to the bruising in Mitchie's brain in her cerebrum, which controls memory and thought. If you ladies will excuse me, I have to call Dr. Moser and we discuss some different ways to go from here. While I'm gone, I know that you probably have a lot of questions but please – try to stay as calm as possible with Mitchie and by _all_ means, do not tell her any information. She just woke up and something too big could overload her at this stage, all right? I'll be back in a few minutes." Dr. Schwartz walked out the door and Connie was instantly at Mitchie's side, kissing her forehead.

"She doesn't remember..." Alex's quiet voice piped up from behind.

"Oh honey, I'm so sorry. I don't know what to say." Connie said sympathetically, putting a comforting hand on Alex's shoulder.

"Where...'s...Gigi?" Mitchie repeated.

Alex sniffled as tears sprang into her eyes. She could not believe this was going on – the past year and few months was totally… gone.

"So...do I call Gigi or something?" A tear finally made its way down Alex's cheek.

"We'll have to see what Dr. Schwartz says...Are you okay?" Connie asked.

Was Alex okay? Her girlfriend didn't remember their _entire_ relationship. No, she's not okay.

"I'm fine." Alex lied with an unconvincing smile. As hurt and confused as she was, she had to be strong for both Mitchie _and_ Connie.

"I need to step outside. Excuse me." She rushed out before Connie could see any of the crying that was about to happen. Alex swiftly made her way to the bathroom down the hall and dabbed a wet paper towel over her eyes as she softly sobbed.

Back in Mitchie's room, Connie was running her hand up and down Mitchie's right arm, thankful that the girl was not asking any more questions for the time being.

"Did...'Lex leave?" She asked drowsily.

"No, she just had to make a bathroom run."

"Oh..." Mitchie sighed, "...She...'s pretty..."

Connie looked at the door, hoping that Alex would walk through with her Alex smile on her face, but she knew that that was not going to happen right now. She hated the fact that her two girls were hurting.

"I know, sweetie...I know."

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><p><strong>Sorry for the cop-out ending. Just so you know, this will<em> not<em> be an amnesia-centric story. The amnesia is only an arc and it won't be all about Mitchie trying to remember her life with Alex – don't worry.**

**Thank you for reading and being so patient. I know that there is a HUGE lack of actual Mitchie/Alex lovin' going on, but it should pick up very soon :) Thanks for sticking with me, everyone!**


	12. Telling Mitchie

**A/N: There isn't much really to say, but you know me. I love writing unnecessary author's notes! Thanks to everyone who read and everyone who reviewed the last chapter. You all are great.**

* * *

><p>15 minutes later, and still no sign of Alex.<p>

Connie was running small circles on the back of Mitchie's pale hand with her thumb when the door flew open and she turned to see her husband standing in the doorway. He rushed to Connie's right side and she gently replaced her hand on Mitchie's with his.

"Hey." Steve whispered as he bent down and kissed Connie on the temple.

"She's talking." Connie smiled. Steve looked at his daughter and tightened his grip on her hand.

"Hi, kiddo." His eyes grew tearier with every passing second. Steve kept his words short in fear of letting a crack in his voice escape.

"D-da…d" Mitchie gave a small grin as she slowly raised her eyes to look into his.

"I'll give you two a moment." Connie rose from her seat and kissed her daughter's forehead before hugging Steve and walking out the door, closing it behind her.

As soon as the sound of the door was heard, Steve's body jerked slightly and he emitted a cough-like sound as tears flowed out of the corners of both eyes.

"Wha…s wrong? …Are you…c-cry…'ng?" Mitchie asked when she heard the man sniffle.

"I'm sorry, Mitch."

"D-don…'t be…I've ju…s…ne'er…s…een you…cry…b'fore…" Her voice trailed off after such a long sentence.

Seeing her father cry for the first time was surprising. This big, strong man who had always been able to hold his composure seemed to have shattered right in front of her.

"They're happy tears. I promise…You're mother and I have just been so worried for the past few weeks. Today's a big day. But I think I'm okay now." Steve gathered himself once again and was wiping his eyes on his free sleeve.

"I'll…be o…k-kay…dad…don'…wor…ry." The corners of Mitchie's mouth tried as hard as they could to rise. While, Mitchie felt like she gave her father her signature, million-dollar smile, he only saw a subtle shift in her muscles – but he understood what she meant.

"I know, honey." Steve leaned down and kissed the top of Mitchie's head.

"Hey…dad? Where…'s…Gigi?..." Mitchie asked, much to Steve's surprise. He hadn't hear the name, "Gigi" in almost two years from Mitchie.

"Wha-" Before he could ask Mitchie what she was talking about, the door opened and in walked Dr. Schwartz, Dr. Moser, and Connie.

"She asked about Gigi. Why's that?" Steve looked at everyone.

"She's experiencing some amnesia. Dr. Moser is going to try and figure out exactly how much." Schwartz answered. He became confused when he noticed that one of the key people was absent from the group, "Where's Alex?"

"Oh, she was a bit upset and stepped out. How about Steve and I go look for her and bring her back while you perform your tests?" Connie offered.

"Sounds good." Dr. Moser agreed.

"We'll be right back, honey." Steve gave Mitchie's hand another gentle squeeze and reluctantly let go. Dr. Schwartz followed them out of the room.

Dr. Moser walked slowly up to Mitchie's bed and grabbed her charts from the foot of it.

"Hi, Mitchie. My name is Diane Moser. I'm a neurologist who's been working with Dr. Schwartz to help you get better." Moser smiled, making Mitchie feel less timid about this stranger, "Do you remember who Dr. Schwartz is?"

"The oth…er doc…tor who ... was jus…t in…here?" Mitchie was scared of sounding stupid for possibly getting the question wrong.

"That's right. Great job! Now can you tell me why you're here?"

"I don…'t…know for…sure…but ev…'ryone…said…a socc…er ac-cid-dent?"

"Again, that's correct. You were kicked in the right side of your face and your head slammed into the goal post behind you. You were unconscious for 5 minutes."

"What?...Really?"

"I know this is a lot of information to take in, Mitchie but try not to process this all at once. Hopefully, it will all become more clear as time goes on. I'm just telling you this so you know, allright?"

"Ok-kay…" Mitchie agreed unsurely.

"Can you tell me your age and what grade you're in?"

"I..s-said six…teen b…'fore…but I d-don'…think th-that's…it." Mitchie looked down, disappointed in herself.

"Hey, listen, Mitchie. You're doing just fine, okay? They were only expecting some different answers. You did _nothing _wrong. We're going to try our hardest to bring everything back to you. It'll be a lot of hard work, but if Dr. Schwartz and I have anything to do with it, you're going to be in great hands. Does that sound good to you?"

"…yeah…" Mitchie was still a bit unconvinced. Everything in her head – every thought, sentence, feeling – was all jumbled up and she wasn't sure how to make sense of much at the moment.

But on the other hand, she was starting to like Dr. Moser. She was nice and seemed to care about Mitchie and her situation. Mitchie was pulled out of her thoughts when Dr. Moser spoke.

"Okay, Mitchie," Moser paused, thinking of the right way to approach this. It certainly hadn't been the first time she'd dealt with amnesia patients, but everyone was different.

"I'm going to tell you exactly what is going on. It might come as a shock to you, but again – don't try too hard to focus on this. Just know that in time, it will make more sense." Dr. Moser's expression became more serious, "Mitchie, you've been in the hospital for three weeks. The accident happened at Tribeca Prep's varsity game that day..." Mitchie's eyebrows furrowed.

_Varsity? As a sophomore? Mitchie was a good goalie, but it was next to impossible to make varsity as an underclassman._

"…You're…18, a senior in high school…The accident has knocked your memory back a couple years…" The doctor paused to give Mitchie time to think.

"Wha…d-does…Gigi…know?"

"Who's Gigi?"

"Gigi is…my…g-girl…friend…"

Dr. Moser closed her eyes and sighed as she remembered Alex and it finally made sense to her what Connie said about why she walked out of the room.

"…Okay. I'm not sure what Gigi knows, but here. Let me get your parents. They came when Alex called, so I'll tell them to come back in." Dr. Moser was conflicted between wanting to tell Mitchie that Alex was her girlfriend, but also was unsure whether or not it would be more appropriate for her parents to tell her. She decided to let Connie and Steve inform her.

* * *

><p><strong>-Back to when Connie and Steve left the room-<strong>

"I'm going to call Alex. It'll be faster than wandering around here looking for her." Connie said as she pulled her phone out and dialed. Dr. Schwartz turned to walk back to his office.

"Hello?" Alex's voice sounded so small.

"Alex, hi. Where'd you go?"

"I'm in the cafeteria. I'm so sorry, Connie. I didn't mean to just storm out, but I was just so…I don't know. When I heard her say 'Gigi', I couldn't be in there." Alex sniffled.

"I understand, honey. It's all right. Can you come back up to the room? Steve is here and Dr. Moser is inside of the room asking Mitchie questions. We want you to be here when she comes out."

"Okay. I'll be right up." Connie could hear Alex already starting to walk and throw her tray of food out.

"And Alex?...She'll remember. She has to…She loves you too much not to. She just has to find it." Connie attempted to comfort the girl.

"Thanks, Connie." Alex has a hint of a smile in her voice, "I'll be up in a minute."

The two hung up and Connie turned to Steve.

"She's on her way here." Connie sighed tiredly, "What's happening, Steve?" She asked as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders in a comforting hug.

"I know it's hard, Con. But think about how much harder it is for Mitchie right now. We need to do our best to be strong for her so she can get back to herself as soon as possible." He said.

Connie just nodded and stayed in the hug a few moments longer.

They pulled away when they saw Alex at the end of the hall. She walked up to them and immediately joined in the hug.

"I'm sorry, you guys. You know I'd never walk out for good, right?"

"We know." Steve squeezed Alex's right shoulder as the door to Mitchie's room opened and Dr. Moser walked out. The hug broke apart as she spoke.

"So, there's a bit of a situation here…I've told Mitchie that she was missing about 2 years, and assured her that we're going to work to get it back. I was just stuck on whether or not to tell her the whole relationship story. I figured you all would want to do that, seeing as though you know the details, which is what she needs right now.

"We can do that." Connie stepped up.

"Okay, feel free to walk right in." Dr. Moser stepped out of the way and walked towards Dr. Schwartz's office door.

Connie opened the door and everyone slowly walked in.

"Hey…guys…" Mitchie's eyes seemed to lighten at the sight of her loved ones.

"Hi, Mitch. Listen…there's something we need to tell you, okay?"

"Sure…" _More bad news, it sounds like_, Mitchie thought to herself.

"Mitchie, you and Gigi broke up…a bit over a year and a half ago…" Steve said slowly.

"Oh…wow…tha…t's…wow…" Mitchie felt like she had just been dumped that second.

"There's more…" Connie hesitated. She looked at Alex, who nodded, prompting the woman to continue, "…You and Alex are now…together… and have been for…a while."

Mitchie was even more shocked at this news than any other that she had heard in the past half hour. She looked at Alex, who had her head down and was running her left foot back and forth on the ground.

"I…don'…know what…to say…" The soccer player looked panicked.

"Um, would it be all right if I had a minute with Mitchie?" Alex piped up.

"Sure," Connie said, "Is that okay with you, Mitchie?"

Mitchie nodded 'yes' and Connie and Steve left the room.

Alex walked to the bed and grabbed Mitchie's right hand just as she had done hundreds of times before.

"Listen, I know that you're probably feeling a lot of shock right now, but I just wanted to tell you that even though you don't have all the pieces right now, I'm going to wait for you, Mitch. I know that somewhere deep down, you might still remember the past year and few months, so know that I won't give up on you, okay?" Alex brought their conjoined hands to her lips and kissed Mitchie's knuckles, "Maybe tomorrow, I can bring some things we can look at together from the past two years and I'll show you during dinner? Thanksgiving's tomorrow, so we'll all be here with you."

"Tha…nks…'Lex. I'm…'nders-stan…d'ing s-some of th-things…but…the m-mem…'ries…aren't th-there…I'm sor…ry." Mitchie blushed.

"Hey, you have nothing to apologize for. You didn't do anything, okay? Just concentrate on yourself right now…I'm gonna go meet your parents and then I have to head home. I wish I didn't but my mom wants me to help out with getting ready for tomorrow. But I promise, I'll be here bright and early in the morning. Is that all right?"

"…Yeah" Mitchie slowly nodded again.

Alex leaned over and down to kiss Mitchie. She hovered over the girl's lips for a quick moment before deciding that that kind of kiss might be overwhelming. The cheerleader shifted slightly to the left and planted a lingering kiss on Mitchie's cheek.

"I'll go get your parents." Alex smiled sadly as she kissed Mitche's hand once again before placing it back at her side.

"Ok-kay…I'll…s-see you…l-later…"

Alex whispered a 'bye' and exited with Mitchie watching her until she was out of sight. Once the girl was gone, Mitchie tried to bring her right hand to her face to touch the spot where Alex kissed her, but still wasn't strong enough to do so. She looked at her knuckles and saw a faint essence of leftover lip gloss over them. Her mouth slowly expanded as she noted that the spot still felt warm.

* * *

><p><strong>Again, sorry for the crappy ending. Also, as I was writing this, it seemed very repetitive, so I apologize for that too...and the minimal proofreading...again. I just wanted to get something up. #LameExcuses<br>**

**And yes, I know that telling a TBI patient **_**everything**_** right when they wake up isn't the best thing to do, but I needed the story to move along. There will be more medical inaccuracies, so consider this your fair warning.**

**Thank you so much for reading. Even though this isn't the greatest chapter, I can't wait to hear what everyone thinks!**


	13. The Yearbook

**A/N: Hey! Here's a chapter!**

**I realized **_**just**_** after I published the last chapter, that it's not quite practical that a person will just accept whatever is being told, especially about relationships and things, so just pretend that they do.**

**P.S.**

**I have a LOT of one-shot ideas, mostly songfics but I really liked the way I did the last one, so you don't have to hear the song to enjoy the story!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Wizards of Waverly Place or Camp Rock.**

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><p>Alex had finally rolled out of bed at 11 in the morning and was washed up and dressed as quickly as possible so she could head to see Mitchie.<p>

Before she left, Alex grabbed a large tote bag and filled it with whatever she could find that might help Mitchie remember the past 2 years. She grabbed last year's yearbook, her digital camera with all of her photos, and her laptop, which held countless more pictures, songs and videos of the two girls together. Making sure that she had everything she needed, Alex got in her car and drove off to the hospital in hopes that the day would bring something good.

* * *

><p>After lightly knocking on the door to let Mitchie know someone was entering, Alex opened the door and poked her head in. A small smile made its way onto her face when she saw her girlfriend awake and turning to look at her, the top half of the bed elevated so Mitchie was sitting up.<p>

"Hey, Mitch."

"Hi...'Lex..." Mitchie said drowsily.

"How ya' feeling?" Alex asked gently as she walked up to Mitchie's bedside and took a seat.

"M'ok…ay…tire…d th-though."

"Do you want me to come back?"

"Nnooo…st…ayyy…" Mitchie slurred.

"All right," Alex said with a chuckle, "Hey, I brought some stuff from my house that I thought you'd wanna look at." She held up the tote bag so that Mitchie could see.

"Awe…some…Le…t's t-ta…ke a…l-look."

Alex grabbed the yearbook from last year and carefully placed it on her girlfriend's lap.

"This is the yearbook from last year, when we were Juniors."

Mitchie's eyebrows furrowed but she trusted Alex, so she let the cheerleader continue.

The book was thick, almost like a textbook, but a bit larger. The cover was hardback and a simple shade of blue with a blue and yellow cartoon-like turkey on the front. Down the spine, the words "Tribecca Prep Yearbook – 2009" were embedded in yellow.

Alex opened the front cover and angled her body so that she and Mitchie could both look at the same time.

Inside the previously white pages were countless signatures and sentiments from classmates, telling Alex to "have a great summer" and "keep in touch". After getting serious about cheerleading, Alex had totally switched gears. She'd become more social and much more popular around school. She still slacked when it came to classwork, but her teachers and fellow students still loved her.

Alex turned the first few pages of signatures and stopped at a photo of the student council. Immediately, Mitchie perked up.

"Har…p-per."

Alex smiled, "Yeah, that's Harper. She finally found room in her schedule to become the events commissioner at school. She's mostly responsible for the awesome dances and things that we've had."

"C-cool…G-good…for her." Mitchie said. Alex lightly hummed in agreement.

Skipping a few unimportant pages, Alex came to the sports section and got excited.

"This is one of my favorite parts of the yearbook. Are you ready?"

Mitchie nodded 'yes' to the best of her ability.

Alex turned the page and Mitchie scanned the page as her eyes slowly widened.

There were about 10 photos across the two-page spread and the biggest one on the right was an image of Mitchie holding an enormous trophy. The caption under it read, "_Goalie, Mitchie Torres holding the playoff trophy after making a game-tying save and blocking every shot during the shootout, leading the Turkeys to an overall victory!_"

"I…d-did th-that?" Mitchie asked in amazement.

"Yes, you did. Your soccer skills have only gotten better over the years. You're _the_ athlete of the school, Mitch." Alex almost choked up at the pride she felt for her girlfriend.

"Wow…"

"Now do you wanna see my all-time favorite picture?"

"S-sure."

Quickly flipping through almost the entire book, Alex went straight to the back, to a group of pages with pictures and quotes of students giving short explanations of their highlights of the year. On the third page of the section, Mitchie's attention turned to the first photo that rested in the top left-hand corner. It showed Alex and Mitchie in a candid shot between classes. They were in a crowded hallway as students and teachers bustled all around them, but it was as if they didn't even notice – they were in their own world.

Mitchie was on the left, wearing a pair of converse, black skinny jeans, and a random t-shirt with an AC/DC album cover on it. On the right, Alex was wearing blue skinny jeans, a flowy tank top, and stappy – but casual – sandals.

The girls were having a moment, seeming to be whispering sweet nothings to each other before leaving for separate classes. Mitchie's hands were clasped behind Alex's neck, just under her hair that reached her shoulders, a bit shorter than it was now. Alex had her hands on Mitchie's waist and the two foreheads were touching as the girls looked into each other's eyes with peaceful smiles on their faces.

Mitchie slowly read the caption under it:

'_The highlight of my Junior year? Having the Turkeys win Playoffs and reaching a whole year with the most beautiful girl in school…But not in that order!' Junior, Mitchie Torres, laughs._

"They had a posed picture, but I talked the editor into using this one instead." Alex smiled.

"Oh…wow, y-you…weren…'t k-kid…ding…" Mitchie sighed.

"Why would I joke about that?" Alex giggled.

"I…d-don…'t know…I j-jus…t…wow…" Mitchie was a bit relieved that Alex hadn't been offended by her comment.

After a short moment of silence, Alex spoke.

"Can I show you what you wrote to me?" Alex asked.

"Yeah…"

Alex found the very back cover of the book, and in thin, blue marker, Mitchie's message occupied the entire space.

"_Alex,_

_I'm taking up this entire area, whether you like it or not :P_

_Seriously, though. This year has been…amazing with you. I don't think I've been so happy in my entire life. You're the best kind of person in the world and I wake up every morning, wondering what I've done to deserve you because I'm pretty sure that I haven't done anything that special._

_I love you, Alex Russo. I can't wait to spend the summer with you and have experience Senior year with you at my side. I'm truly lucky to have you in my life and I'll never forget that._

_Have an awesome summer…With me._

_Love,_

_Mitchie "The luckiest girl in the world" Torres"_

Next to the signature was a lip gloss print, where Mitchie had kissed the book, leaving her mark.

Alex subconsciously took Mitchie's right hand and squeezed it.

Mitchie's eyes began to throb and water as a couple tears made their way into her ducts, not going unnoticed by Alex.

"Hey, what's wrong? Is this okay? I didn't mean to just do that. It was out of habit."

"N-no…I…j-just…w…ish I…rem-em-mbered…Y-you w-were…so h-…hap…py."

"Mitchie. I'm still happy, okay? I'm happy that you're all right, all things considering. As long as you're with me, whether you remember or not, I'm _happy_." Alex reassured her, emphasizing the emotion once more.

"How about we take a break until dinner? I'll leave my bag here and we can look at more photos tonight."

"S-sure…Is it a-al…right i-if…I ta…ke a n-na…p?" Mitchie's were already weighing down.

"Of course. Get some rest, all right? I'm gonna go back home real quick to help my mom with some of the food, and I'll be here when you wake up."

"Ok-…kay." Mitchie sighed.

Alex hesitated.

"…Um, Mitchie? Feel free to say 'no', but…Do you think I could kiss you on the forehead before I leave?" Alex looked down, fiddling nervously with her hands.

Mitchie smiled groggily.

"S-sure…" She nodded.

Alex returned the smile and leaned down. She slowly pressed her lips to Mitchie's skin and lingered there as she closed her eyes for a moment.

"I love you." She whispered, pulling back. But when Alex opened her eyes to look at Mitchie, Mitchie was already fast asleep.

Alex sighed and quietly walked out of the room.

* * *

><p><strong>Again, sorry for the abrupt ending. I was in a bit of a rush. I'm writing the next chapter right now, and if all goes well, I'll hopefully have it up tomorrow so be on the lookout.<strong>

**Hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you think and sorry for any mistakes. This had _no_ proofreading haha Sorry again.  
><strong>


	14. This can't even be considered filler

**A/N: Happy belated Thanksgiving!**

**And to Jessicaaa – I usually just update when I finish writing a chapter. There isn't really a set schedule or anything :)**

**This chapter is FILLER! It's short, pointless, and NOTHING HAPPENS. I really only wrote it for the author's note at the end to shamelessly promote myself. So I don't expect you to review.**

**I liked _Ad3n_'s idea of posting the Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving, but then everything got hectic, so here it is a day later. Happy Black Friday!**

**Also, I know that I mentioned Justin once in the first like, paragraph of Jock Gets the Girl, and never even touched Max, so let's pretend they're both gone for the holidays haha**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>After a couple hours of random chit-chat, Alex had been settled into her seat by Mitchie's bed. In between comfortable silences, Alex would think of some tidbit of information about a random classmate of theirs. Mitchie enjoyed having Alex around because even their silences were comfortable.<p>

Alex had just finished telling Mitchie about the time Jeremy almost made the entire chemistry classroom explode during a science-related mishap when they heard a knock on the door. The cheerleader got up to answer it, and both Connie and Theresa entered, carrying two big boxes.

"Okay, girls. I've got the food and Connie brought a microwave." Theresa smiled. She put the box containing the feast down on a table along the wall to Mitchie's right and turned to walk over to the bed.

"Hey, Mitchie." She said warmly as she leaned over and gently hugged the girl.

"Hey...T're...s-sa." Mitchie was excited to see everyone.

About a minute later, Steve and Jerry entered, Steve holding 4 fold-up chairs and Jerry with a small, collapsible table and another chair.

"All right. Jerry and I will get the table and everything ready and then we can eat!" Steve announced.

* * *

><p>45 minutes later, the food was heated, a table was placed strategically at Mitchie's bedside, with Mitchie and Steve at both heads, Alex and Connie on one side, and Theresa and Jerry at the other, facing them. Everyone was laughing and eating, when the sound of the hospital room door opened.<p>

"Oh, sorry to interrupt." Doctor Schwartz pardoned himself.

"Don't worry about it." Theresa shrugged happily, "Is everything all right?"

"Yes, I just wanted to get a quick reading of Mitchie's charts." He walked over to the few machines on Mitchie's left, took note of their displays, and then walked over to the machine that controlled Mitchie's feeding tube.

"W-what...chya...doin'" Mitchie asked.

"Well, I'm hesitant to have you eat any solid food yet, but everyone should be able to feel full on Thanksgiving, so I'm upping your intake for a bit. That way, you'll feel a little more full, just like everyone else will." He smiled.

"Gee...th-than...ks..." Mitchie smiled sarcastially. Everyone let out a small chuckle.

"I'll have a nurse come in to turn the levels back down in an hour or so. Have a great holiday, everyone." Schwartz said.

"Thanks, Doc." Steve called to him. The door closed, and everyone went back to their meals.

* * *

><p>With the final bite reaching Jerry's mouth, everyone let out tired sighs and dropped their eating utensils to their plates.<p>

"Oh, that was good. I wish I had room for more." Jerry groaned.

"You doing okay there?" Alex asked Mitchie as she patted her shoulder.

"Y-yeah...I'm...g-goo...d." Mitchie nodded with a smile, "Th-than...ks...ev...'ry...one f-for...c-com...ming to...cel...eb-brate w-with...me...I-t real...ly m-mea...ns a l-lo...t."

"Aw, we wouldn't miss it for the world." Theresa cooed.

"Yeah, I'm sure something we're all thankful for this year is you, Mitchie – that you're here with us after everything that's happened." Jerry jumped in.

"I l-lo...ve...you...g-guys."

"We love you too, Mitch." Alex's smile was mixed with happiness and a touch of sorrow. She knew that without Mitchie's memory, saying "I love you." did not mean what it had before.

"Well, it's getting a bit late and Theresa and I wanted to get to the mall for some Black Friday shopping tomorrow. We should head home." Jerry said, looking at his watch, "Alex, are you gonna stay here for a while longer?" He asked his daughter.

"Yeah, I told Mitchie we could out a bit tonight." Alex nodded.

Jerry and Theresa said their "good nights" to Alex and hugged Mitchie before leaving the room.

"...M-mo...m? D-dad?...Is...it al-lright...if...A-'lex and...I ha...ve a...few...m-min...nutes...al-lo...ne?"

"Oh, uh sure." Steve sounded a bit surprised. Mitchie had always loved hanging out after dinner during the holidays. He understood, though. This was a different situation.

"Of course you can, honey." Connie was secretly relieved. As much as she'd have liked to be with Mitchie, she and Theresa had been on their feet, cooking all day, so the idea of getting to bed early was exciting.

"We'll see you in the morning." Steve kissed Mitchie on the top of the head, "Bye Alex." He gave the girl a one-armed hug around the shoulder and Connie followed suit.

And with that, the door closed and only Mitchie and Alex were left in the room.

"S-so, you...said...th-there...were...m-m...ore...ph...ot...os." Mitchie prompted.

"I sure did." Alex smiled. She walked over to her tote bag that she slipped under Mitchie's bed and took out her laptop as she pulled up a chair and rested her computer on Mitchie's lap.

"These are all pictures I never got to posting anywhere." Alex said as she double-clicked a folder labeled as "Us." Mitchie smirked slightly at the name.

Dozens of photos opened up, and Alex scrolled through them to find a group of pictures from their Junior year prom, from their summer, and from the first weeks of Senior year.

Mitchie's eyes caught sight of a video file in the corner of the screen that seemed to be named "Dancing".

"W-wha...t's...the...d-dan...cing...vid...deo?"

"Oh, you don't want to watch that. It's really embarrassing."

"C-c'mon..." Mitchie pushed.

"Fine, but you better not tell anyone." Alex joked. She double-clicked the file, and up popped a clip of her in a shiny, sequined shirt and black headband, while Mitchie was wearing light blue sunglasses and a light shirt.

The two girls just talked to the camera for a bit and then all of a sudden, various songs began playing and the girls danced around with each other for what seemed like the whole night.

"W-wo...ow...we...'re d-dor...ks." A weak chuckle came from the soccer player.

"Yes, but we we're dorks together." Alex assured her.

"L-lis...ten, A...'lex...I'm...sor-ry th-tha...t...ev...'ryth-thi...ng's...all...mess..sed up...I-I'm gon...na t-try...m-my hard...dest t-to...g-get...it...all...b-back." Mitchie stated sadly.

"Don't overwork yourself, and don't feel bad, okay? I better get home because my parents are gonna need me to be assertive at the mall tomorrow. Once there's some free time, I'll stop by, okay?" Alex closed the laptop and put it back in her bag.

"Y-yeah...I-I'll...s-see you...soo...n." Mitchie was already getting tired again.

"Goodnight, Mitchie." Alex pressed her lips to Mitchie's forehead and shuffled out the door with her bag slung over her shoulder.

* * *

><p><strong>Shitty ending. Shitty chapter. Please ignore it and just read below.<strong>

**I've made a Twitter account that I'm going to update about my writing and everything, so if you want to stay posted on things, follow me at IloveFanfic76 :D There's nothing there yet, but once I get my first follower, I'll start tweeting. You'll hear about when I'm writing, new chapters, when I get new ideas for stories, and whatever else has to do with my goings-on here.**

**If you follow me, tweet me and tell me who you are on here! I'd love to know who's keeping up!**


	15. I don't even know what to call this

**A/N: Hey, guys! I was actually going to do a double update last night, but literally 20 minutes after I posted the 3****rd**** chapter of "Who's Gonna Save Me?", I got in a little bit of a car accident (it wasn't my fault, though!). I hit my head on my window pretty hard and I wasn't really up for writing anything, so I'm just doing it today. I decided not to go to class, but I was getting a bit restless, so I spit this out pretty quickly. It's filler, but it has a milestone in it, so you might want to check it out.**

**Remember when I said I would start ignoring how medically practical things would be? Keep that in mind. I needed to speed this up because it was going at a snail's pace.**

**Sorry if it sucks. I just wanted to post something before taking a nap. Hope you enjoy it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Wizards of Waverly Place or Camp Rock.**

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><p><strong>-2 Weeks Later, First Day of Winter Break-<strong>

Over the past 2 weeks, Mitchie had made amazing strides in her recovery. She'd been seeing both a speech and a physical therapist, as well as working with Dr. Moser on gaining back some of her basic movements. Her speech was still a bit slurred and stuttered, her attention span and short-term memory had decreased significantly, and she got tired doing simple tasks, but her progress was still making way.

Mitchie could finally feed herself (she was glad to be rid of the feeding tube and given solid nutrients); she could grab most objects, and even walk short distances. Her muscles would spasm every so often but Dr. Moser assured everyone that it shouldn't be something to worry about. Mitchie's physical recovery was moving along because she had strong muscles to begin with, due to her sports activity. Also, most of the damage in her brain was to her mental state, not so much her physical. It was still a very long process, but it was a relief to Mitchie's family to know that she'd probably get all of her motor skills back.

Hell, everybody was ecstatic lately - probably Alex, most of all. She hadn't been able to keep her hands off of Mitchie since last week.

**-Flashback: About 7 or 8 days ago-**

_Alex was curled up with Mitchie on her hospital bed with the laptop, looking through more photos together. She was opening and closing various folders, when Mitchie spotted something and stopped her._

"_W-wait. What's th-that?" Mitchie pointed at the thumbnail. Alex chuckled as she clicked on it._

"_What th-the...?" Mitchie was thoroughly confused looking at the image._

_On the screen, Mitchie and Alex stood together – Alex was in a blue cardigan and tight jeans while Mitchie was...in an old western outfit?_

_Alex had both of her hands on Mitchie's shoulders and their bodies were facing each other. Alex's head was turned to the right, looking directly at the camera and she looked like she was in the middle of a scream of surprise. Mitchie faced her girlfriend and had her hands on Alex's hips, eyes closed and a huge smile on her face, as she planted a big kiss on the taller girl's cheek. Resting on Alex's right side in Mitchie's hands was a white cowboy hat. Both girls looked like they were about to fall over backwards onto the floor but judging by the looks on their faces, they wouldn't care less._

"_Harper took that photo..." Alex smiled, "She was taking random pictures for the yearbook and right when she was about to press the button, you ran up and tackled me. It was pretty funny. They didn't have room for it in the yearbook, but Harper emailed it to me."_

_Mitchie grinned._

"_Wh-why am I a c-cow...girl?" She asked._

"_Oh, let me find that picture." Alex turned to the computer and searched around until she found what she was looking for. She pulled up a picture of a poster on the school wall._

"_W-wanted...Alex Russo...Date to prom..." Mitchie mumbled as she slowly read the words. Her eyebrows furrowed._

"_You dressed up as a sheriff and plastered the hallway with 'Wanted' posters of me to ask me to the Prom. It was great." Alex laughed, "You even wore Mr. Laritate's boots."_

"_No way," Mitchie giggled, "That sounds really embarrassing."_

"_Then I won't tell you how many times you tripped that day." Alex received a joking slap to the shoulder._

_After the laughter died down, Alex put on a serious face and opened up a new folder._

"_Okay, Mitch. You promise not to freak out at this set? You used to really like these photos."_

_Mitchie looked at the screen and her eyes widened. About 10 photos of her and Alex seemingly naked and tangled up in white bed sheets that looked just like the ones in Alex's bedroom. Upon closer inspection of the small thumbnails, Mitchie relaxed a little when she saw that nothing scandalous was actually showing. Alex continued opening a few._

_The first was just of Alex with the covers pulled up to her neck and her short hair sprawled out over the pillow. She seemed to have just woken up and had her left hand covering an embarrassed grin._

"_These were from the morning after Prom. It uh...Was our first night...together." Alex blushed._

"_...You're beautiful when you w-wake up..." Mitchie breathed out, not even aware she had said it out loud. Alex looked at Mitchie admiring the photo. She leaned to the side and pecked Mitchie on the cheek, her lips lingering in that spot before wordlessly pulling away and moving onto the next picture._

_The second photo was of the two girls. Alex was snuggled up into Mitchie and it looked like she had gone back to sleep. Mitchie was holding the camera and took a quick snapshot as she kissed the top of Alex's head._

"_Yes. I did fall back asleep, in case you're wondering. You had me awake for a while the night before..." Alex smirked, "But don't worry. I woke up soon after – see?" She opened up a photo that seemed to have been taken from below. Alex was looking at the camera with a devilish grin and it looked like she was straddling Mitchie, who was holding the camera – probably because she _was _straddling Mitchie. She had the sheet wrapped around her shoulders and covering her entire front._

"_When w-was this one?" Mitchie asked._

"_Um...That was before round four..." Alex bit her bottom lip and then the two girls started giggling together._

"_Wow...w-we're an-nimals..." Mitchie laughed._

"_Yeah, but that's also counting the night before, so we're not _too _bad." Alex tried to justify her and Mitchie's actions but they both knew that they were just absolutely hungry for each other that night._

"_...Hey, I'm going to go grab some food. Do you want anything?" Alex asked after feeling a grumble from her stomach._

"_N-no thanks. I'm g-good." Mitchie smiled._

_Alex got up and walked out of the room. Mitchie was left to look at the photos. She scrolled through endless thumbnails and without her knowledge, a tear ran down her cheek._

_It was all there. The evidence and the facts were all in place and they all made sense, but Mitchie still didn't have that feeling that she assumed came with love. Why couldn't she just have feelings? She wanted to love Alex – more than anything, Mitchie wanted to return Alex's feelings just as she did before the stupid accident, but she just couldn't bring herself to remember._

_**-2 nights later-**_

_After a long night and a half of lying awake, racking her brain, Mitchie was slipping into dreamland when a group of white flashes attacked her mind. All she saw behind her eyelids were strobes of white and as the seconds passed by, Mitchie could have sworn she saw images in between each flicker. What felt like minutes passed by, and the space in between each strobe lengthened._

_***Flash***_

_Mitchie was laying on Alex's bed, completely unclothed, looking down the length of her own body._

"_But I thought everything in those photos was covered up by the sheets…" Mitchie thought to herself._

"_I love you, Mitchie…" Alex's voice echoed through the soccer player's mind._

_Mitchie looked down again to see Alex placing slow, wet kisses down her neck, her collarbone, chest, stomach – traveling south until an unexplainable pressure was felt between her legs._

_***Flash***_

_Alex was now on her back with Mitchie's fingers working her core. A strained moan escaped her lips as she arched up, her chest heaving into the air and the bed sheets getting lost in her fists._

_***Flash***_

"_This town ain't big enough for the two of us…" Mitchie called down the hall in her cowgirl outfit._

_***Flash***_

"_Yes, I'll be your girlfriend." Alex smiled sweetly._

_***Flash***_

_Mitchie saw herself running around Tribeca Prep, leaving bundles of roses in different places._

_***Flash***_

_Mitchie's eyes flew open and she shot up into a sitting position, clutching the back-right side of her now-pounding head. She was huffing for air as if she'd just run a marathon._

_After a couple of moments, Mitchie looked around the empty room and wiped some sweat from her brow as her breathing settled down._

"_I…r-remember…" She whisper-gasped to herself._

**-End Flashback: Present Day-**

Mitchie was sitting up in her bed with her gorgeous girlfriend straddling her lap. Alex was leaning forward with her left hand on Mitchie's shoulder and her right one propped up on the wall behind, so that she wasn't putting all her weight on Mitchie. From underneath Alex, Mitchie's hands snaked their ways and pressed up on the cheerleader's backside, bringing their contact closer. Their mouths were pretty much glued together until Mitchie's knee involuntarily jerked slightly up.

"Mmf!" Alex moaned. She'd always liked it a little rough.

Mitchie sobered up and slipped her tongue out of Alex's mouth, earning a whimper from the girl.

"S-sorry, Alex. M-muscle spasm." Mitchie looked down and blushed.

Alex sat back on Mitchie's thighs, both hands now clasped behind Mitchie's neck.

"Aw. Now I'm all bothered." She pouted.

"I'm sorry about that." Mitchie grinned.

"You should fix it." Alex smirked.

"No way. S-someone would s-see." Mitchie understood her girlfriend's point instantly.

"Come on…" Alex leaned forward again and began nibbling on Mitchie's neck's sweet spot, "That hospital gown is driving me crazy. I wanna rip it off." She already had undone the top tie of the garment, which Mitchie hadn't noticed until it slipped down and she felt a breeze.

"Alex!" Mitchie scolded, "We c-can't…Mmm…W-we'll g-get caught…Ohhh…" Her attempts at ignoring Alex's ministrations proved worthless.

"Neither of us has gotten any in weeks, Mitch. Aren't you going to give into your basic needs?" Alex smiled.

"Yeah, but _I_ was unconscious for the majority of that time. I was fine without. _You_, on the other hand, are just a horny teenager." Mitchie joked.

"Yes, I am." Alex played along, "Now, do it for me? Don't you want me, Mitch?" She was already back on Mitchie's thighs, undoing her bra and sliding out from under her shirt, throwing it onto the floor.

Mitchie licked her lips and brought her bottom one in between her teeth.

"…J-just. Th-this. Once." She tried to sound assertive.

"You're the best." Alex dove in for another feverish kiss and Mitchie's hands flew back to their previous place on her rear.

* * *

><p><strong>I really didn't know how to end this. That last scene was my attempt at dragging this chapter out. It was supposed to end after the flashback, but I just kept writing. I probably could have fit that last part in the Companion or something. I just wanted to bring the story back to a sense of present time.<strong>

**Feel free to ignore this filler, but if you **_**do**_** have something to say, I'm all ears…Well, all eyes.**

**Thanks for reading! And don't forget to follow ILoveFanfic76 on Twitter!**


	16. Happy Holidays

**A/N: Hey, sorry for the late update on this story. I've _finally_ started winter break, so hopefully I'll be able to get some writing done! But behold! The longest TBI chapter yet!**

**Thank you to _Ad3n_ for mentioning a potential present idea a while back when I had my really bad writer's block. I decided to use it with a little TBI twist, so thank you or the suggestion.**

**This is an early holiday filler. Hope you like it. Also, I'm REALLY sorry for the rushed time skip. Writing Mitchie's stutter was becoming a pain in the ass and I figured that if I kept it up much longer, I'd start to hate writing the story and I don't want to hate it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Wizards of Waverly Place or Camp Rock.**

* * *

><p>After Mitchie and Alex's romp in the hospital bed, the recovering patient made certain it would not become too much of a regular event, much to her girlfriend's dismay.<p>

That notion lasted about 4 days. When the mixture of Alex's sex drive and Mitchie's lack of will power come together, there is no stopping the two teenagers. The lovin' repeated itself _at least _5 or 6 times over the past two weeks.

It was now 5 days until Christmas and first thing in the morning, Mitchie was on her back, straining to use her leg muscles to lift a couple ankle weights the physical therapist strapped to her ankles. It had been about a half hour of stretching and exercise, which was no problem at the beginning, but after more time, every muscle in Mitchie's body was screaming for her to stop. She kept going, though. If she had any hope of getting back to her regular life, she _needed_ to push herself.

Mitchie's progress had been exponentially improving. Her physical abilities were quick to return to her, thanks to her strong soccer muscles. She wasn't quite up to her old self, but Mitchie was determined to work harder than she's ever had to in her life. Her mind was still a bit slow, but the stutter she had was very much resolved as best as it could be. Mitchie's short-term memory and reasoning were still in need of some assistance, but that was another aspect she vowed not to give up on.

Just when her bones began to feel like they were bursting, the trainer piped up, allowing herself to relax.

"Okay, good job, Mitchie. That was a really great session today." The hefty man said as he removed the weights from the girl's feet, "How are ya' feeling?"

"Like I'm ab-bout to explode." Mitchie slurred, tiredly as she evened out her breathing.

"Yeah, that's about right." The PT chuckled, "Do you think you're up for some time with Dr. Moser or are you gonna want to rest up?"

"I think I can go f-for some brain activity." Honestly, Mitchie was drained but it was something she felt she needed to do.

The physical trainer left the room and minutes later, Dr. Moser walked in with a deck of cards.

"Hey, Mitchie." She greeted cheerily. Mitchie returned the hello and Moser took a seat and began shuffling the cards around, "All right. Today, we're going to see where your memory is, all right?"

"Sounds g-good." Mitchie agreed.

Dr. Moser pulled the bed tray onto Mitchie's lap and selected four random playing cards. She set them up face-down in a line.

"Okay, Mitchie. I'm going to give you 30 seconds to memorize these four cards. Every time you get all four cards correct and in the right order, I'll show you a new set and your memorization time will be 5 seconds less. Is that all right for you?"

"Yeah."

Moser flipped the cards and set her stop-watch. During the almost half-minute, Mitchie memorized the order of the Queen of Hearts, the 8 of Spades, the 6 of Diamonds, and the Ace of Hearts then recited them correctly to the doctor. This went on for about 10 rounds and Dr. Moser decided to raise the level of difficulty.

"Now, Mitchie, I'm going to add another card to the set so you'll be memorizing 5 cards instead of 4. Also, I'll add an extra 5 seconds.

"O-kay." Mitchie almost yawned.

Once again, Moser set up the cards and put 25 seconds on the clock.

Ace of Diamonds, Jack of Hearts, 7 of Clubs, 3 of Hearts, and 9 of Clubs.

The stop-watch beeped and the doctor flipped the cards over. Mitchie slightly panicked. Even with the extra 5 seconds, having one more card added a bit of confusion.

"Um...The first one was definitely an Ace...of...Diamonds?"

Dr. Moser nodded as she revealed the card.

"And the second one was...Hearts...It was a face card...Jack?"

Another nod.

"7 of...Spades?"

Moser showed Mitchie the card and Mitchie's shoulders lightly slumped in disappointment. She scratched her forehead and squinted, trying to remember the next card.

"Diamonds...eight?..."

The doctor grimaced and Mitchie saw the 3 of Hearts.

"How about the last one, Mitchie?"

"...Honestly, I don't even see the last card in my mind. I don't remember it at all." She admitted.

"That's why we're doing this." Moser said comfortingly, "To assess what level you're at. Let's just do a few more and I'll let you rest for the day.

The two continued and as they went on to do more sets, Mitchie was growing frustrated with not being able to get every single guess right.

"...Ugh, I can't do this!" Mitchie whined, "Can we call it a day?"

"Sure, Mitchie. But I want you to know that you _can_ do this, okay? This is all part of the healing process. Everything with this takes a lot of time. You'll be able to get things back if you keep trying. Just don't say you can't, all right?" Dr. Moser asked.

"...Yeah..." Mitchie sighed.

"Okay, I'm going to go do some check-ups around the building. I'll see you tomorrow. Try not to beat yourself up too hard."

"Thanks. I'll see you tomorrow."

They said their good-byes and Mitchie flopped back onto her pillow, exhaustedly staring at the ceiling.. With a few blinks of the eyes, she fell into a deep slumber.

* * *

><p>A couple hours later, Mitchie stirred. After attempting to stretch, she felt her body restricted and weighed down. Mitchie looked down and was met with the top of a brunette head, none other than Alex's. Searching around the room, she spotted Harper and Jeremy in a far corner, playing a board game.<p>

Alex was laying on her side at the very edge of Mitchie's bed. Mitchie rolled over and gave Alex a little more room before wrapping her arm around the still sleeping girl's waist. Alex inhaled deeply and her eyes fluttered open.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you." Mitchie whispered.

"I didn't mean to fall asleep. I was waiting for you to wake up because I wanted to cuddle but you were taking up the whole bed." Alex smiled jokingly, "How are you feeling?"

"Eh...I had a bad session with Dr. Moser today. I'm just a bit disappointed."

Mitchie pulled Alex closer and Alex snuggled up close, silently comforting her girlfriend.

"How long has everyone been here?" Mitchie asked.

"We got here about a half hour ago." Harper spoke up.

"Yeah, I was Hanukkah shopping for my parents and I found something I thought you'd like, so I wanted to give it to you and we can all hang out or something." Jeremy said.

"Aw, you didn't have to get me anything."

Jeremy walked over to the bed and gave Mitchie a box wrapped in blue paper. Mitchie sat up and excitedly tore away at the wrapping, which was difficult with Alex still in her arms. She lifted the top of the box and gasped, pleasantly surprised.

"It's a soccer-themed menorah." Jeremy chuckled.

The silver menorah had a soccer ball on each candle spot and the base was shaped like a soccer net.

"I love it, Jeremy!" Mitchie reached out with her right arm and brought the boy in for a friendly hug, "When does Hanukkah start?" She asked as they parted.

"Tonight at sundown, actually. Then we light a candle every night for 8 nights."

"Oooh! Can we light candles?" Mitchie perked up.

"Sure." Jeremy laughed, surprised that Mitchie would be so excited, "I'll stop by once the sun goes down and we can do it before I meet up with my parents."

"That'll be really fun!" Alex exclaimed, "Our first Hanukkah together." She leaned over and gave Mitchie a quick peck.

"Our first Hanukkah ever, babe." Mitchie smiled.

* * *

><p>That evening, Jeremy and Harper returned to Mitchie's quarters with candles, matches, and some dreidels with chocolate coins. Alex and Mitchie were still cuddled up in the bed, almost drifting back to sleep.<p>

"Hey, guys. We brought everything." Jeremy greeted them cheerfully. They both sat up with their legs dangling off the side of the bed.

Everyone gathered around a small fold-up table in front of the bed, where Jeremy recounted the story of Hanukkah – of the miracle that a small amount of oil lasted 8 days and what every Hanukkah tradition had to do with the event.

"_L'haglik neir shel Chanukkah_" The four teenagers all lit the first candle together as one and smiled at the glow of the small flames. Jeremy dimmed the lights so that the only illumination of the room came from the menorah and the hallway ceiling lamps. He pulled out a small plastic bag of dreidels and gelt – the chocolate coins. Everyone spent a large portion of the evening spinning the top and swapping their winnings, as well as various holiday stories. Jeremy's parents called him, telling him to come back home and Harper left too, seeing as she was his ride.

Mitchie and Alex laid back down on the bed and took a nice nap. Alex jolted awake when she felt a buzz in her jeans pocket.

"Crap – It's 1 in the morning. Mitchie, wake up. We fell asleep longer than we planned."

"Wha..." Mitchie tiredly breathed out.

"I have to go, but I'll see you tomorrow. Maybe we can spend the rest of Hanukkah with Jeremy and Harper. It was really fun earlier." Alex leaned down and kissed Mitchie before standing up.

"Yeah...Sounds good..." Mitchie yawned. Her eyes fluttered closed and Alex walked toward the door, "...Love you." She breathed out.

"I love you too." Alex blew her girlfriend one last kiss as she walked out of the room, quietly shutting the door behind her.

* * *

><p>Later the next morning, Mitchie was sitting up in her bed with a large amount of catalogs spread all over her bed and her mom at her side. Each of them was looking at two different catalogs at a time, circling items as they went along. Connie, who had already bought her presents for everyone, was helping Mitchie choose something to give to Alex for Christmas.<p>

"It really has to be perfect." Mitchie mumbled with her tongue slightly sticking out in concentration, not looking up from her catalog.

"Aw, honey – I'm sure you'll find the right present. Even if you don't, Alex will love that it's from you." Connie patted her daughters knee in comfort.

"I guess..." Mitchie sighed, flipping more pages. She threw yet another catalog down to the foot of the bed and picked up a new one. With her patience running low, Mitchie just opened up to the middle of the book. She scanned a few pages, almost losing hope, before gasping at something she came across.

"Mitchie, what is it?" Connie asked, slightly startled.

"I found Alex's gift!" Mitchie proudly grinned from ear to ear.

* * *

><p><strong>-Christmas Day-<strong>

Thanks to Harper and Alex, Mitchie's hospital room looked like someone swallowed the North Pole and threw it up all over the place. There was a wreath on the inside of the door, a small 2-foot-tall Christmas tree in the corner across from the bed, and some stockings taped to the wall over a large, hand-drawn picture of a fireplace.

The Torres family and the Russo clan, minus the boys, were all sitting around the room, exchanging presents and sharing pleasant conversations with one another. There was wrapping paper all over the room from everyone's gifts. Mitchie got a new digital camera from her parents, a DVD set of every past World Cup tournament finals ever from Jerry and Theresa, and a photo album from Alex of all of the couple's best pictures together. Alex received a new mp3 player from her own parents and new art supplies from Mitchie's. Mitchie waited nervously as she reached under her pillow and took out a small box and card.

"Um...Alex, here's your gift." Mitchie said shyly. Alex smiled, knowing that Mitchie was never nervous unless something big was going to happen, "Read the card first."

Alex took the card out of its envelope and chuckled at a picture of a black and white kitten in a Santa hat, wishing her a merry Christmas. She opened the card and read Mitchie's handwritten message:

"_Dear Alex,_

_First of all – sorry for the messy handwriting. I'm still getting that down-pat but Dr. Moser is helping me a lot. She says 'Happy holidays' by the way._

_I was really racking my brain, trying to figure out what to get you for Christmas. I wanted to get the perfect gift for the perfect girl. It was a struggle, but I think I've round something that shows my gratitude toward you._

_Alex, I think this really represents my thanks – my thanks for you. That you stuck around me this entire time, even when I didn't remember our entire relationship. I can't believe you stayed but I'm so infinitely glad that you did. I don't know what I would have done without you by my side this whole time and this is to remind both of us that you've been so strong and never thought of running away._

_I love you with all my heart and I'm so blessed to have you as a part of my life. Merry Christmas, Alex._

_Much love,_

_Mitchie Torres._"

Alex felt her eyes begin to water as she reread the card twice more. With a silent 'OK' from Mitchie, Alex passed the card around to both sets of parents. Connie and Theresa were almost in tears, themselves, as the fathers tried their hardest not to choke up.

The cheerleader carefully unwrapped the mid-sized rectangular box and her eyes widened as she took in the sight.

"Mitchie..." She drifted off, almost breathlessly. Inside the dark blue, velvet box was a small golden locket open on a thin gold chain. Inside the pendant was a tiny copy of the candid photograph of the girls in the hallway from the yearbook.

"Read the in-inscription." Mitchie pointed. Alex reached into the box and closed the locket so she could see the outside cover. It read:

_I l-love you._

With that, Alex felt multiple tears finally rolling down both cheeks and the corners of her mouth curling up.

"It's so that we can remember this time – that even though it's been really difficult at times, we never stopped loving each other, you know? Even with one of the biggest hardballs thrown at us, it couldn't break us apart...Like I said, you d-don't have to wear it all the t-time, though."

"Are you kidding?" Alex sniffled and happily wiped her tears away, "I'm never taking it off." She passed her necklace around the room and every parent nodded as they admired the beauty of the present.

Alex sat at Mitchie's side and leaned down, hovering over the goalie's body with her right hand by Mitchie's right hip. She connected their lips together and rested her left hand on Mitchie's cheek.

"...We'll give you girls a minute." Jerry said, noticing that they were not going to stop any time soon. All four parents subtly ushered themselves out into the hall, leaving their daughters to have their moment on the bed.

After about three minutes of unbridled kissing, Alex lightly moaned and pulled away before things got steamy. She reached for the necklace that was left on the nightstand.

"Help me put it on?" She asked.

"Sure." Mitchie grinned, happy that her girlfriend genuinely seemed to like the gift. With Mitchie still working on getting some coordination back, getting the clasp took several frustrating attempts but with a victorious 'yes!', the chain was secure around Alex's neck.

"I love it." Alex looked down, reading the inscription at an awkward angle, "Now come here."

The taller girl grabbed Mitchie by the collar of her hospital gown and rammed their lips together. Mitchie instantly grabbed for Alex's waist and Alex shifted so that she was straddling the other girl's hips. She rested her hands on Mitchie's shoulders and pushed down so that she was laying on top of her.

The couple was so lost in their bliss that they didn't even hear the door open.

"Hey girls, can we come back inside? – OH MY GOD, SORRY!" Upon catching a glimpse of the scene in the room, Steve immediately covered his eyes and leaped out of the room, frantically slamming the door on the way, "...Uh, I think we should head downstairs and grab some lunch. The girls, uh...need a moment..."

The other parents were confused, but once the realization hit them, they all nodded and hurried out of the hall.

Alex detached her mouth from Mitchie's neck just as the bang of the door was heard.

"Oh... My... God. You're dad did _not_ just pretty much walk in on us..." She said. Steve had seen the girls have small fun times together, but if he were just a couple minutes later, he'd have seen a _lot_ more of his daughter than any father should.

"That is _so_ embarrassing. He probably won't be able to look me in the eye for a week!" Mitchie buried her face in her hands as she laughed, "I don't think I can uh..._perform..._after that." She confessed.

"Yeah, neither can I..." Alex agreed as she sat up on her knees, which were still on either side of Mitchie, "But we're gonna make up for it. Tonight, we're having Christmas/'2nd night of Hanukkah' fun, okay? And trust me...It'll be _fun_." Alex smirked. Mitchie absolutely loved it when Alex took control like that.

"Can't wait." Mitchie winked. Alex leaned forward one last time and pecked Mitchie on the lips before leaving to retrieve her parents, Connie, and a now-very-traumatized Steve.

* * *

><p><strong>There! A longer chapter to (hopefully) make up for all the past shitty ones! Again, thank you to <em><span>Ad3n<span>_ for putting the idea of a necklace in my head a while ago.**

**I'm sorry for any mistakes you find and any awkward sentences. It's about 2:25 in the morning right now and I _really_ need to sleep because I've got a bit of a busy day tomorrow.**

**Let me know what you think of the chapter! I love reading what everyone says!**

**Thanks for reading. I hope you all liked it!**


	17. New Year's Filler

**A/N: Hey, everyone! Sorry about the writer's block I've been having. It's been _quite _a week.**

**Everything has been getting so busy, but I'm not giving up! I've got this story, WGSM?, and countless other ideas to write so keep on the lookout!**

**Sorry that this is anticlimactic filler. I didn't have the greatest time writing this chapter, but I really wanted to get something up before the new year. I also apologize for time skips, rushed plot, awkward sentences, and grammatical errors. My lame excuse was that I was pressed for time, so I absolutely do not expect you to read or review if you don't feel like it's necessary. I really only wrote it for the A/N at the bottom, so if you don't want to cringe, skip to that.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Wizards of Waverly Place or Camp Rock.**

* * *

><p>Christmas night, Alex decided to sleep over with Mitchie and make up for the lost time due to Mitchie's father's interruption. At 11 in the morning, the girls were unclothed, snuggled up together in the small hospital bed, sound asleep. A light knock on the door startled Mitchie awake and the jolt stirred Alex, who only groaned and pulled herself closer to her girlfriend.<p>

"Come in." Mitchie mumbled, not thinking about her and Alex's current state.

"Didn't mean to wake you girls." Dr. Schwartz poked his head in, "Oh... Let me give you a few minutes to, uh… ready yourselves." He blushed, seeing the girls cuddling naked under the covers. Schwartz shut the door and walked back to his office to take care of some paper work that had suddenly become very important.

"What was he talking about?" Alex grumbled into Mitchie's shoulder.

"I dunno. Something about getting dressed." Mitchie yawned.

Seconds later, Alex spoke.

"Mitchie?..."

"Yeah?"

"...We're naked..."

Realization hit her and she smacked her palm to her forehead.

"Can't we get through ONE sexual act without anyone seeing?" Mitchie sighed.

Alex giggled and nuzzled closer into Mitchie's bare shoulder.

With much reluctance, the girls got out of bed. Alex threw on some sweats and a loose t-shirt and Mitchie, who was thankful to be able to wear actual garments instead of a hospital gown, slipped into some baggy soccer shorts and an old jersey.

A half hour later, Dr. Schwartz returned to the room (this time, getting the 'okay' before opening any doors) and following him, we're Steve and Connie, who wore enormous grins on their faces. They all grabbed seats and faced, Mitchie and Alex. The girls were sitting side-by-side with Mitchie's left hand resting on Alex's thigh.

"Hey, what's everyone doing here?" The goalie asked.

"Well, Mitchie," Dr. Schwartz began, clasping his hands together in his lap, "As you know, we've been closely monitoring your progress and we've all discussed it with Dr. Moser."

Schwartz paused, causing Mitchie and Alex to lean forward in anticipation.

"They think you're ready to come home!" Connie blurted out in excitement.

"What? Really?" Mitchie asked, breathlessly.

"New Year's Eve if that's okay with you." Steve jumped in.

"O-of course it's okay with me! That's great!"

Alex tightened her grip on Mitchie's hand.

"All right. Well, I'm going to go put the discharge paperwork through and have your parents sign everything. The adults stood up and after hugs all around, Steve and Connie followed Dr. Schwartz out of the room and into his office.

"You're coming home." Alex's voice came out in a happily tearful whisper. She cupped her hands behind Mitchie's neck and brought her in for a kiss.

"I finally get to sleep in my own bed." Mitchie sighed as the two pulled apart.

Alex smirked.

"_I _finally get to sleep in your own bed." She winked before leaning in again.

* * *

><p><strong>-5 days later: Afternoon of New Year's Eve-<strong>

"Well, that should be everything. Mitchie, I hope you enjoy going home and I'll see you once a week for check-ups." Dr. Schwartz shook the soccer player's hand as she packed up the last of her belongings. Mitchie said her good-byes to everyone, Dr. Moser, her physical therapist, and the various attendants who'd been there with her over her time in the hospital.

"Listen, thank you, Doctor. So much, for everything you've done." Steve shook the man's hand and made his way out of the room.

Mitchie stared out the front window of her dad's car as he pulled up to the house she had not seen in 3 months. It was all so familiar to her, yet she felt completely disconnected after not setting foot in the home for months. The one-story dwelling looked exactly the same as Mitchie remembered. The cream-colored walls held up a dark red roof. There were two windows in the front, on either side of the door – on the left was the window into the living room and on the right was the window that looked into the kitchen.

Steve walked around the front of the car and helped his daughter of her seat.

"Ready?"

Mitchie nodded. The two walked slowly to the front door and opened it. As soon as they were inside, the lights flickered on and Connie, Alex, Harper and Jeremy were all standing in front of the doorway, holding a banner that said "_Welcome home, Mitchie!_" In bright blue and yellow letters.

Alex's cheeks almost split in result of her grin as she let go of her end of the poster and ran into Mitchie's arms with a squeal.

"Hey!" Mitchie laughed as she almost fell over. Alex spun her around and kept a tight hold around the girl's waist as everyone else zeroed in on the hug, "Ahh, I'm so excited to be back."

Mitchie gave everyone their individual greetings and walked with Alex into the living room, where the two flopped onto the black leather couch with Jeremy and Harper following suit.

"So what do you wanna do, now that you're home?" Jeremy asked.

"Hmm, I'm not sure. We still have a while until midnight. Do you just want to watch some movies? The hours will go by faster." Mitchie shrugged.

Knowing that the soccer player probably didn't need to get into any heavy activity, everyone happily agreed. They got into comfortable positions, Harper and Jeremy on the couch, and Alex sitting across Mitchie's lap in the armchair with her legs hanging over the side. The 4 teenagers snuggled up to their other halves and popped in the first DVD: _Titanic_.

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><p>Names and credits from the 3rd movie were scrolling up the screen when Harper, who resting her head on Jeremy's lap, reached out her arms and stretched.<p>

"_Mean Girls_ will always be one of the greatest movies ever made." She yawned.

"Even _I_ love it." Jeremy stated.

"I know. It's the world's most quotable movie." Mitchie agreed quietly. She looked down and saw that Alex was sound asleep in the crook of her neck, "Alex, did you like the movie?" She gently rustled the girl in her lap.

"...Mhm, _so_ fetch." Alex mumbled drowsily and everyone chuckled.

"Kids! Get over here! The ball's dropping!" Connie yelled from the kitchen as the adults began their countdown from 10.

Alex's eyes shot open and she leaped out of the seat, propelling herself into a sprint toward the kitchen. She was not about to miss her favorite part of the night.

The three remaining friends all stood up and quickly made the short trip into the other room.

"_5_!" Everyone called out in anticipation.

"Alex! Where'd you go?" Mitchie searched for her girlfriend.

"_4_!"

Alex slipped out from the small crowd of parents.

"_3_!"

Everyone joined hands with their respective, boyfriend, girlfriend, wife, and husband.

"2!"

"I love you." Mitchie said, looking into Alex's eyes.

"1!"

"I love you, too."

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!" Everyone yelled and clapped their hands, happy to ring in the new year. Jeremy gave Harper a soft, chaste kiss – very much in contrast to the speed at which Alex pulled Mitchie's arms around her waist and maneuvered her hands behind the goalie's neck as the two sets of lips were meshed into one.

Long after everyone had gotten over their burst of excitement, Mitchie and Alex were still exploring each other as if it were the first kiss they've shared. They eventually pulled away with a slight pop and their chests heaving.

"Let's go upstairs." Mitchie panted, her eyes closed and her lips lightly brushing against Alex's.

"Right behind you."

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><p><strong>All right. I know that this is <em>not<em> how a holiday-related chapter should be, but I really just wanted to get this up so I can wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR!**

**Also, I know I've been ending every recent chapter with sexy time, but that stops here, hopefully. I have a long mental list of fic-centric resolutions, so if all goes well, 2012 will be a great year. I've got literally TONS of ideas – one-shots, multi-chapters, and I'll be trying out a lot of new things!**

**Back to what I was saying – It's probably already 2012 where you are, so I hope your New Year's Eve was great and that we can all enjoy a Lovez-filled New Year!**

**Thank you all for reading, despite my inability to complete a coherent chapter. I love all my readers and I obviously don't know how to end an author's note.**

**Bye!**


	18. Mitchie's Return to School FILLER

**A/N:Hey, I apologize if this was double posted. There was a little mix-up, but it's fixed now.  
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**Okay, I'm SO sorry to anyone who might have been waiting for this! I've been super stressed with somethings, but I've figured out a good rhythm to my schedule, so hopefully, that will allot me some more writing time! I'm so glad to be back writing TBI and thank you to everyone who read/reviewed the last chapter of "Who's Gonna Save Me?"**

**This chapter is complete FILLER. I wasn't planning on the return of TBI to be so anticlimactic, but it just worked out that way. Don't worry, though. I the chapter after this one is actual plot for once.**

**Anyway, onward and upward! (Also, sorry for the chopiness/tiny time skip)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Wizards of Waverly Place or Camp Rock.**

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><p>About a week after New Year's, Mitchie was called into the living room to speak with her parents. She slowly walked down the stairs and sat on the loveseat, facing the couch.<p>

"Mitchie," Connie started with an excited grin, "I just got off the phone with your principal and he said that if you're ready, you can come back to school this semester and graduate with your friends. Now, he _knows_ that you've just gotten out of the hospital but there are a lot of resources at your school that we can use to make sure you can catch up without being too overwhelmed."

Mitchie's shoulders slumped. She was kind of hoping to hear anything other than that.

"What's wrong, Sport?" Steve asked, noticing his daughter's apparent disappointment.

"Nothing...That's great but, I mean, what's the point? I've missed out on college applications and after the accident, probably any soccer scholarships I could hope to get. This was the year that scouts came to see _me_! I-I know that s-sounds s-s-self-centered, but... Ugh! N-Now I'm stuttering ag-gain. Just great." Mitchie sighed angrily, trying to calm herself.

"Honey, I know that it's a huge change and your plans have been completely thrown off track...We were thinking maybe you can consider community college? Y'know – like Alex?" Theresa asked cautiously.

Mitchie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She wanted to settle down so she could control her stuttering.

"Community colleges aren't what they used to be, Mitchie." Steve said, "Their systems are beginning to rival some of the state schools around."

"I know, Dad. There's nothing wrong with community colleges...It's just that everything's so wrong. I just need some time to think. I'm gonna go call Alex." Mitchie didn't wait for her parents' response before she stood up and sulked to her bedroom, leaving Connie to sigh and rest her head on Steve's shoulder.

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><p>"Wow…That really sucks. I'm sorry, Mitch." Alex said after Mitchie had vented to her. The girls were laying on the bed, cuddle up to each other. Mitchie was resting her head on Alex's chest with her arm around the cheer leader's waist and Alex curled her right arm under Mitchie as she gently stroked her hair.<p>

"It's not like it's your fault or anything." Mitchie sighed for the hundredth time that day.

"Well, think about it like this. You and I can actually go to college together instead of hoping that you get in somewhere nearby, right?" Alex raised her eyebrows in hopes of finding a silver lining for her down-in-the-dumps girlfriend. Mitchie shrugged.

"Yeah, that's a plus, I guess." She nodded slightly, "...Anyway, let's change the subject. I don't want to bring you down or anything."

"Aww, you could never bring me down." Alex smiled and craned her neck to kiss the top of Mitchie's head, "But if you wanna talk about something else, I'm totally fine with that... Are you ready to go back to school?"

"I don't know... I'm definitely looking forward to being anywhere but the hospital and home. Not so excited for the learning, though - and having to readjust. It'll be weird."

"And that's why I'll be with you." Alex smiled, "So will Harper and Jeremy, and the soccer team, I'm sure. Even though the season's over, they've all been asking me about you and everything. They miss you."

"I missed them too." Mitchie said, "Do everything at school will be different for me? Dr. Schwartz mentioned that I'm likely to have a lot of issues returning to school. I just hope that it's not as scary as he made it seem."

"I'm sure it won't be." Alex was uncertain of her words. Neither she, nor Mitchie, knew anyone at the school who had gone through something like this, so there was no way of knowing exactly how the school handled it, "I mean, you said that there were tutors and extra study periods available, right?"

"Yeah, there are. I really have to buckle down this semester. If I have any hope of graduating with anyone, it has to be perfect." Mitchie had a sudden, newly found determination in her voice, which surprised Alex.

Alex nodded in agreement at first and then remembered that Mitchie had always been a perfectionist and often got angry with herself if things didn't work out exactly how she wanted them to.

"I know you can do it." Alex put her left hand on Mitchie's cheek so the two could make eye contact, "But I want you to know that it's perfectly okay if somehow, you need to take an extra semester or something, all right? No one is going to care if you can't play catch-up in such little time - _especially_ me. I just want you to go at a nice pace. I know you like to push yourself, but be careful because the last thing you need is to burn out early."

"I know. I promise I'll keep myself in check." Mitchie leaned up and kissed Alex lovingly, giving the taller girl's waist a small squeeze of assurance.

* * *

><p><strong>-About a week later: First day back at school-<strong>

"You ready?" Alex switched off her car's ignition and turned to Mitchie who was nervously bouncing her legs and staring out of the passenger-side window. She could tell the soccer player's mind had a thousand different thoughts running through mind.

"I'm sorry, what?" Mitchie asked, finally registering that Alex had spoken.

"Mitch, you don't have to be nervous. You ruled this school three months ago. Before you know it, you'll rule it again. I promise. But you have to take the first step."

"It's just so surreal being back. It feels like a totally new place. What if I don't fit in anymore?"

"Trust me." Alex smiled, "It hasn't changed at all." She got out of the car and opened Mitchie's door. The two girls joined hands and with a few deep breaths, made their way through the front doors of Tribeca Prep.

Alex pushed one of the double-doors open and led Mitchie into the main foyer of the school. It was close to first period, so there were only a few students out and about, but that didn't stop the whispers. The five or six students who were still at their lockers stopped to watch the former star player return. Mitchie moved closer to Alex as she felt the glares before her. Alex tightened her grip on Mitchie's hand in comfort.

"Do you want me to go with you to see Mr. Laritate?" Alex asked as they approached the principal's office door.

"I think I'll be okay. You should head to class before you're late."

Alex kissed Mitchie and assured her that she'd come get her after class before reluctantly separating their hands and heading up the stairs. Once Alex was out of view, Mitchie felt her nerves begin to act up.

_Awesome._ She thought sarcastically to herself. _Well, here we go_.

On the other side of the door, Mr. Laritate was reviewing the morning announcements when he heard a knock at the door. The wannabe cowboy stood up and answered. He couldn't help but smile when he saw one of his favorite students on the other side.

"Mitchie Torres! Pleasure to see you back!" Mr. Laritate said excitedly, "Come on in." He moved out of the way and offered Mitchie the seat in front of his desk.

"Th-thanks, Mr. Laritate. I-it's great to be back."

"Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah. The st-st-stuttering comes and goes w-with n-nerves." Mitchie nodded.

"Ah, well, there's no reason to be nervous. I can assure you that myself and the staff will do everything we can to make your return as comfortable as we can. We want you to succeed this semester." Laritate smiled.

"I ha-have no doubt about that, s-sir."

Mr. Laritate chuckled.

"Now, I've kept your schedule how it was before, just with one class added. Instead of an elective, you've got a study period with the Special Ed tutor. I know you're not technically in need of special education, but she has experience with students who have been through head injuries. If, later in the semester, you find that you don't need the services, we'll put you in the elective of your choice. Sound good?"

"Sounds great!" Mitchie beamed, thankful that her principal had made sure she'd adjust normally.

* * *

><p>After talking to Mr. Laritate about everything from coming back, to how the soccer team had done while she was gone (decent season, but the Turkeys didn't make it to any major tournaments this year), to any random topic that popped into mind, the school bell rang, signalling the end of first period. Mitchie didn't even realize an hour had passed - That's what she loved about Mr. Laritate - no matter what anyone said about him, he was an easy-going guy if you didn't tick him off.<p>

"Well, I should let you get to your next class." The man stood up and shook Mitchie's hand, "Really, it's great to have you back."

Mitchie smiled and walked out of the office, leaving Laritate to continue his work. Waiting right outside the door was Alex, along with Harper and Jeremy. They all greeted their friend with hugs and 'welcome backs.'

"What's your next class?" Alex asked.

"Uhhh, same as before - math upstairs." Mitchie answered, looking at her schedule. She was disappointed to learn that none of the three were in any of her classes. Everyone decided to walk Mitchie to her room and chat before the second period bell rang. Everyone parted ways and Mitchie, not excited to face her peers, slowly opened the door to the classroom. Her teacher, Mrs. Faron, smiled because Mitchie was the first person to arrive.

"Mitchie! Welcome back." Mrs. Faron was a small older woman with red hair. Math was never Mitchie's strong suit but the teacher was a very patient person and always explained things to the best of her ability.

"Hey, Mrs. Faron. Thanks."

"Listen, Mitchie. Your teachers and I have all gotten together and figured out different ways to help you out, starting with some adaptive learning accommodations. So if you need it, you'll get extra time on tests and I will also make the font on the tests a bit bigger if you are having trouble." Mrs. Faron then reached into a drawer under her desk and pulled out a small binder, "Now, I've taken the liberty of getting copies of the best notes I can find. I don't want you to overload yourself - it's a lot of review to go over - but I've talked to the Special Ed tutor and she and I are always going to have our doors open if you have any questions or concerns at all."

"Wow. Thank you. I don't know what to say." Mitchie almost choked up, thinking about how much work her teachers have put into just her. Before Mrs. Faron could respond, the starting bell rand and Mitchie was handed the heavy binder. She took it and sat down at a desk in the far corner, near the door in hopes that people will just walk by and not notice her.

A couple kids walked in, saw Mitchie, and obviously knew that she was back but didn't say anything. Once everyone started pooling in and taking their seats, the entire room was drowned in low murmurs that made Mitchie squeeze her eyes shut and rub her close-to-throbbing temples.

"OKAY, CLASS." Mrs. Faron announced loudly, knowing exactly what the students were talking about and sensing Mitchie's obvious discomfort.

_This is going to be a long day..._ Mitchie thought to herself as the teacher's lecture began.

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><p><strong>All right, there's the new chapter! Sorry it doesn't really move the plot along. The next one should be a bit more interesting.<strong>

**Also, I hope you all don't mind, but I really need to move this story along, so depending on which way I go with this, there will be a few time skips coming up.**

**Anyway, thank you so much for reading and I apologize for errors!**


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